WALT  WHITMAN 

Books  are  to  be  called  for,  and  supplied,  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  process  of  reading  is  not  a  half  sleep,  but,  in 
highest  sense,  an  exercise,  a  gymnast's  struggle;  that  the 
reader  is  to  do  something  for  himself,  must  be  on  the  alert, 
must  himself  or  herself  construct  indeed  the  poem,  argument, 
history,  metaphysical  essay — the  text  furnishing  the  hints, 
the  clue,  the  start  or  framework.  Not  the  book  needs  so 
much  to  be  the  complete  thing,  but  the  reader  of  the  book 
does.  That  were  to  make  a  nation  of  supple  and  athletic 
minds,  well-trained,  intuitive,  used  to  depend  on  themselves, 
and  not  on  a  few  coteries  of  writers. 


JOHN  RUSKIN 

The  foundational  importance  of  beautiful  speaking  has 
been  disgraced  by  the  confusion  of  it  with  diplomatic  oratory, 
and  evaded  by  the  vicious  notion  that  it  can  be  taught  by  a 
master  learned  in  it  as  a  separate  art.  The  management  of 
the  lips,  tongue,  and  throat  may,  and  perhaps  should,  be  so 
taught;  but  this  is  properly  the  first  function  of  the  singing- 
master.  Elocution  is  a  moral  faculty;  and  no  one  is  fit  to 
be  the  head  of  a  children's  school  who  is  not  both  by  nature 
and  attention  a  beautiful  speaker. 

By  attention,  I  say,  for  fine  elocution  means  first  an  ex- 
quisitely close  attention  to,  and  intelligence  of,  the  meaning 
of  words,  and  perfect  sympathy  with  what  feeling  they  de- 
scribe; but  indicated  always  with  reserve.  In  this  reserve, 
fine  reading  and  speaking  (virtually  one  art)  differ  from 
"recitation,"  which  gives  the  statement  or  sentiment  with  the 
explanatory  accent  and  gesture  of  an  actor.  In  perfectly 
pure  elocution,  on  the  contrary,  the  accent  ought,  as  a  rule, 
to  be  much  lighter  and  gentler  than  the  natural  or  dramatic 
one,  and  the  force  of  it  wholly  independent  of  gesture  or 
expression  of  feature.  A  fine  reader  should  read,  a  great 
speaker  speak,  as  a  judge  delivers  his  charge ;  and  the  test  of 
his  power  should  be  to  read  or  speak  unseen. 


Interpretation  of  the 
Printed  Page 


FOR  THOSE  WHO  WOULD  LEARN  TO  INTERPRET 

LITERATURE  SILENTLY   OR  THROUGH 

THE  MEDIUM  OF  THE  VOICE 


By 

S.  H.  CLARK 

Associate  Professor  of  Public  Speaking 
The  University  of  Chicago 

Author  of  "How  to  Teach  Reading  in  the  Public  Schools. 
"Principles  of  Vocal  Expression  and  Literary  Inter- 
pretation" (Chamberlain  and  Clark),  "Hand- 
book  of  Best    Readings,"    etc. 


CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 

ROW,    PETERSON    AND    COMPANY 


Copyright,   1915 
By  S.  H.  CLARK 


College 
Library 


4145" 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  planned  for  use  in  High  Schools, 
Normal  Schools,  and  as  a  foundation  for  advanced 
classes  in  Colleges;  but  particularly  have  I  had  in 
mind  the  needs  of  the  teacher  of  English  who  has 
had  no  special  training  or  preparation  in  vocal  ex- 
pression. Elocution,  problems  of  voice  culture,  ges- 
ture, and  articulation  are  not  touched  on,  because 
there  are  a  number  of  excellent  treatises  available  for 
the  professional  teacher;  and  the  non-professional 
teacher  is  more  likely  to  be  harmed  than  helped  by 
them.  Training  in  voice  and  gesture  cannot  be  got 
out  of  books,  nor  from  correspondence  courses. 

The  teacher  of  English  can  use  this  book  in  class 
with  no  other  training  than  that  derived  from  the 
study  of  literature  —  which  study  must  always  be  an 
inseparable  part  of  the  training  in  vocal  expression  ; 
and  with  no  other  purpose  (what  higher  can  there 
be?)  than  to  give  the  students  such  an  insight  into 
the  meaning  and  beauty  of  literature,  that  the  vocal 
interpretation  of  it  will  be  a  simple,  unaffected,  intel- 
ligent, pleasurable  illumination  of  the  text. 

The  teacher  of  elocution  will,  I  hope,  find  in  these 
pages  a  sound  and  rational  text-book  whose  lessons 
can  be  supplemented  by  such  other  instruction  as  con- 
ditions demand.  The  principles  herein  presented  are 
basic,  I  believe,  to  any  method. 

The  method  here  presented  is  the  first  in  the  realm 
7 


8  PBEFACJS 

of  pedagogy  that  recognizes  practically  as  well  as 
theoretically — what  no  one  of  course  denies — that 
thought  getting  must  be  the  basis  of  vocal  interpre- 
tation. I  am  certain  that  what  explains  the  poor, 
inadequate  vocal  expression  in  our  schools  is  not  lack 
of  technical  exercises,  but  lack  of  ability  to  interpret 
the  printed  page;  and  I  am  almost  as  certain  that  the 
absence  of  interest  in  literature,  and  the  mediocrity 
of  results  in  political  economy,  history,  etc.,  are  very 
largely  due  to  lack  of  interest  in,  growing  out  of 
inability  to  grapple  with,  the  printed  page.  I  have 
therefore  had  constantly  in  mind  in  preparing  this 
book  not  only  those  who  want  to  read  aloud,  but  every 
person  who  wishes  to  get  more  knowledge  and  more 
enjoyment  from  the  printed  page.  There  are  hun- 
dreds who  are  interested  in  increasing  their  ability  to 
interpret  the  printed  page  to  tens  who  want  to  learn 
to  read  aloud ;  and  the  method  here  presented  will  help 
the  hundreds  as  well  as  the  tens. 

I  am  under  great  obligation  to  Miss  Jessie  L. 
Newlin,  of  University  College,  of  the  University  of 
Chicago,  for  numerous  suggestions  in  connection  with 
the  general  plan  of  the  book,  and  particularly  for 
valuable  assistance  rendered  in  gathering  and  selecting 
the  illustrative  material. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 11 

I.     GROUPING    21 

II.     GROUP  SEQUENCE 49 

III.  GROUP  VALUES 72 

IV.  GROUP  SEQUENCE  WITH  SUBORDINATION  90 
V.     INVERSION   98 

VI.     DENOTATION    103 

VII.  AN  EXERCISE  IN  ANALYSIS 133 

Vin.  GROUP  MOTIVE 139 

IX.  CENTRAL  IDEA 154 

X.  GROUP  MOTIVE  AND  CENTRAL  IDEA.  .  .  169 

XI.  PUNCTUATION  178 

XII.  PUNCTUATION  (Continued) 200 

XIII.  REVIEW  EXERCISES  IN  PUNCTUATION.  .  227 

XIV.  CONNOTATION    241 

XV.     EMOTION    254 

XVI.     SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS.  .                 .  309 


INTRODUCTION 

The  great  majority  of  graduates  from  public,  high, 
and  normal  schools  are  sadly  deficient  in  ability  to 
interpret  the  printed  page.  Thirty  years'  experience 
in  teaching  forces  on  me  that  conclusion.  In  the  fol- 
lowing pages  will  be  found  what  I  think  is  ample 
proof  of  my  charge,  sweeping  and  startling  as  it  is; 
but  in  this  place  I  can  say  only  that  my  statement, 
often  made  in  public,  is  all  too  frequently  challenged 
by  those  who,  relying  easily  and  nonchalantly  on  their 
ability  to  take  in  at  a  glance  words,  phrases,  nay, 
whole  pages,  never  have  learned  how  much  of  the 
meaning  they  miss,  and  how  often  they  misinterpret  it. 

No  system  of  popular  education  can  be  considered 
adequate  from  which  the  graduates  have  not  derived 
a  serious  interest  in  worth-while  things  and  an  ability 
to  grasp  the  content  of  books  or  journals  in  which 
things  worth  while  are  discussed.  And  I  believe,  there- 
fore, that  our  school  system  must  lay  greater  stress 
than  it  has  laid  on  silent  reading — the  importance  of 
which  seems  to  be  underestimated.  It  is  the  only 
avenue  of  approach  to  the  larger  world  for  the  boy 
and  girl,  or  the  man  and  woman  whose  school  days 
are  ended.  Whether  as  a  citi/en  who  should  for 
patriotic  reasons  have  a  lively  interest  in  history, 
politics,  sociology ;  as  an  artisan  who  seeks  for  help 
and  advice  in  his  life  work;  as  a  lover  of  the  beautiful 
seeking  to  come  into  contact  with  the  best  that  has 

11 


12      INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

been  thought  and  felt  by  the  human  race ;  or  as  a  mere, 
plain,  matter-of-fact  everyday  man  or  woman  of 
affairs  who  wants  to  know  what  is  going  on,  it  is  the 
printed  page  more  than  anything  else  that  can  help. 

There  is  a  loud  cry  for  better  reading  in  our 
schools,  and  as  the  demand  grows  louder  and  more 
insistent,  we  are  striving  to  meet  it  by  classes  in  elocu- 
tion, elocution  contests,  voice  classes,  courses  in 
articulation,  and  of  late,  by  the  giving  of  plays.  In- 
deed all  of  these  ways  of  answering  the  demand  are 
helpful  (with  a  little  less  emphasis  on  the  "all"  when 
it  comes  to  elocution  contests  as  usually  conducted)  ; 
but  while  they  develop  ease  and  facility  in  expression, 
they  do  not  go  to  the  root  of  the  matter  unless  they 
insist  that  the  only  basis  for  vocal  expression  must  lie 
in  a  thorough  apprehension  of  the  meaning. 

All  this  is  veriest  platitude ;  and  yet  I  cannot  escape 
the  conclusion  that  in  spite  of  all  our  training  in  silent 
and  oral  reading  (I  had  almost  added  "and  in  Eng- 
lish"), in  spite  of  accepted  theories  about  "getting 
the  thought,"  the  average  product  of  our  schools, 
from  grammar  grade  to  college,  cannot  be  altogether 
trusted  to  interpret  a  page  of  reasonably  difficult 
English. 

And  the  times,  too,  are  none  too  favorable  for  such 
intensive  study  as  I  am  pleading  for.  All  is  rush  and 
hurry,  and  what  does  not  come  to  us  easily  as  we  read, 
what  is  only  a  short  distance  removed  from  the  sim- 
plicity of  thought  and  language  of  our  everyday  life, 
is  dismissed  as  being  hard,  and  hence  beyond  our 
grasp.  It  is  an  age  when  the  concrete  and  tangible 


INTRODUCTION  13 

are  the  only  things  that  seem  to  count  with  young 
people.  It  is  so  easy  to  skim  over  a  text  that  has  to 
deal  with  abstractions  as  close  to  life  as  "virtue"  and 
"honesty."  Typewriting,  shop,  mechanical  drawing; 
nay,  even  chemistry,  botany,  physics,  as  the  pupil 
comes  into  contact  with  them  in  the  laboratory,  are 
"easier,"  far  easier,  than  one  page  of  solid  type. 

No  one  is  foolish  enough  to  deny  the  importance  of 
the  vocational  and  scientific  studies.  But  I  would 
draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  those  subjects  the 
material  is  tangible,  easy  to  get  at  and  to  handle; 
and  above  all  they  afford  little  training  in  the  atten- 
tion and  concentration  necessary  to  the  mastery  of  the 
content  of  books.  The  data  of  science  are  concrete, 
and  so  novel,  so  inherently  interesting,  that  students 
delight  to  spend  hours  in  the  laboratory  learning  how 
the  wheels  of  the  universe  go  'round.  Yet  the  very 
tangibility  of  the  data  is  likely  to  create  an  impa- 
tience in  the  student  for  the  serious  study  of  books. 

It  is  not  that  I  plead  for  less  of  the  methods  of 
science,  but  for  more:  I  urge  that  the  vocational 
student  and  the  young  student  of  science  include  in 
their  curricula  more  of  the  intangible  material  of  the 
printed  page ;  and  that  the  student  of  literature  in- 
clude more  of  the  rigid  method  of  science  in  pursuing 
his  courses. 

But  even  in  connection  with  subjects  in  which  books 
are  frequently  used,  we  accept  too  easily  careless,  slip- 
shod recitations.  How  strange  it  is  that  in  so  much 
of  our  teaching  of  reading  from  primary  up  so  little 
help  is  given  to  the  pupil  to  enable  him  to  get  the 


14 

full  content  of  the  printed  page !  In  the  earlier  years 
the  stress  is  naturally  laid  on  learning  letters  and 
words,  but  after  the  child  can  "read,"  we  leave  all 
the  rest  to  chance.  In  a  few  schools  some  stress  is 
laid  on  vocal  expression ;  but  alas !  too  often  "ex- 
pression" is  synonymous  with  gush  and  show  and 
affectation. 

To  conclude  then :  expression  is  good,  valuable,  but 
it  must  be  the  natural,  spontaneous  response  to  an 
impression.  Elocution,  or  expression,  or  vocal  inter- 
pretation, whatever  it  may  be  called,  is  not  the  goal 
of  the  reading  lesson.  Our  schools  have  made,  and 
many  still  make,  the  fatal  mistake  of  taking  it  for 
granted  that  because  vocal  expression  may  be  of  con- 
siderable importance  as  the  outcome  of  the  reading 
lesson,  it  is  of  the  first  importance.  It  is  not.  Bcau- 
/  tiful  as  is  the  adequate  vocal  interpretation  of  litera- 
j  ture,  it  is  of  infinitesimally  less  worth  in  a  system  of 
education  than  the  ability  to  interpret  silently.  For 
the  great  majority  of  men  and  women,  the  need  for 
correct  impression  is  the  most  crying  of  all. 

The  method  here  presented  consists  of  a  series  of 
simple  progressive  steps  to  master  which  means  the 
'  development  of  ability  to  get  more  and  more  from  the 
printed  page,  a  greater  pleasure  in  literature  through 
a  clearer  grasp  of  its  content,  and  finally,  the  growth 
of  a  power  to  express  vocally,  in  a  simple,  natural, 
and  effective  way,  the  content  of  the  printed  page. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  for  a  moment  that  I  would 
insist  on  the  making  of  a  clear  picture  of  what  every 
word  and  sentence  stands  for.  It  would  not  only  be 


INTRODUCTION  15 

sheer  nonsense  to  expect  that;  it  would  cause  incal- 
culable harm  to  develop  the  habit  of  reading  only  in 
pictures.  (However,  to  be  fair  to  those  who  insist  on 
"getting  pictures,"  I  believe  they  use  the  phrase  in  the 
very  general  sense  of  getting  the  thought.)  In  fact, 
we  seldom  or  never  see  pictures  in  our  daily  inter- 
course. If  I  am  told,  "Your  lesson  in  history  for  to- 
morrow will  be  chapter  five  of  Green's  History  of  tJie 
English  People,"  I  certainly  do  not  stop  to  make  a 
picture  of  "lesson"  and  "tomorrow,"  etc.  It  would 
positively  stand  in  my  way  if  I  had  to  get  ideas  and 
information  in  such  a  fashion.  And  so  it  is  with  all 
the  ordinary  conversation  and  reading  of  everyday 
life.  The  larger  our  experience  with  books  and  the 
world  the  easier  it  is  to  read  without  the  aid  of  pictures. 
But  now  comes  a  danger.  Young  students  become 
so  used  to  understanding  people  without  effort  and  to 
reading  rapidly  that  they  skim  lightly  over  the  page, 
and  many  come  to  the  point  where  that  which  does  not 
come  easily  is  passed  by  as  being  too  hard,  or  not 
worth  puzzling  over.  It  is  only  those  who  are  well 
acquainted  with  the  subject-matter  who  can  read  rap- 
idly and  still  understand.  I  do  not  mean  that  it  is 
necessary  to  read  every  page  of  every  book  so  care- 
fully that  nothing  can  escape  us.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible we  want  to  read  just  to  get  a  general  idea  of 
what  the  author  has  to  say.  Some  passages  are 
under  some  conditions  to  be  passed  over  lightly,  and 
under  others  to  be  studied  in  minutest  detail.  For 
instance,  we  cannot  be  expected  to  study  closely  ever}' 
word  of  the  baseball  news,  nor  of  a  railroad  accident. 


16      INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

But  when  we  come  to  good  literature  there  is  no  choice. 
It  was  never  written  for  the  tired  brain,  nor  for  mere 
entertainment.  Every  word  and  phrase  has  a  mean- 
ing and  a  purpose. 

In  this  book  I  am  insisting  strongly  with  Ruskin 
that  one  must  interpret  not  only  sentences,  but  words, 
nay,  "letter  by  letter,"  for  with  virtually  no  reserva- 
J  tion  the  greater  part  of  our  educational  system  is 
guilty  of  total  disregard  of  this  fundamental  need. 
The  only  way  we  can  test  the  value  of  a  method  of 
"teaching  literature"  is  in  its  results  with  the  students, 
and  I — with  the  highest  appreciation  of  that  small  de- 
voted body  of  teachers  of  English  that  insists  not  on 
"teaching  literature,"  but  on  presenting  it  so  that 
students  may  learn  what  it  is — I  unhesitatingly  de- 
clare that,  measured  by  the  standard  of  adequate 
results,  it  is  a  miserable  failure:  it  has  not  developed 
an  interest  in  literature  worth  while,  let  alone  a  love 
for  it.  I  concede  the  world  is  too  much  with  us ;  that 
the  cry  for  practical  results  drowns  out  the  gentle 
voice  of  poesie ;  that  the  environment  of  our  students 
may  not  be  conducive  to  the  study  of  literature;  I 
grant  everything  except  that  all  these  are  no  excuse. 
We  must  find  time  and  means  to  present  literature  for 
what  it  is,  not  as  history,  not  as  biography,  not  as 
composition,  nor  philology,  nor  histology,  nor — nor 
— nor  anything  but  the  beautiful.  It  can  never  be 
easy  to  read  good  literature,  thank  the  gods  for  that ! 
but  it  must  be  made  so  interesting,  so  appealing  to 
what  is  best  in  the  students  that  they  will  gladly  work 
over  the  text  in  order  to  enjoy  it.  There  is  no 


INTRODUCTION  17 

time  to  hurry  the  study  of  a  poem;  it  is  the  ver- 
iest art  of  pedagogy  to  dwell  on  it  and  have  the 
class  dwell  on  it  lovingly,  longingly,  and  loath  to  let 
it  go;  hanging  on  every  word,  every  group  and  sen- 
tence; rolling  rhyme  and  rhythm  on  the  tongue  as  it 
were — not  trippingly,  no,  Hamlet,  not  trippingly — 
until  we  know  it  as  we  know  the  mother's  voice,  singing 
it  to  ourselves,  dwelling  on  every  cadence,  flighting 
to  the  blue  with  Shelley's  Skylark,  going  down  with 
majestic  steps  to  Milton's  deep  within  the  deep. 

There  is  little  love  of  good  literature  in  America. 
We  don't  read  it  because  we  don't  care  for  it ;  we  don't 
care  for  it  because  it  does  not  appeal  to  us;  it  does 
not  appeal  to  us  because  we  don't  understand  it;  we 
don't  understand  because  we  don't  know  how  to  go 
about  understanding — and  our  schools  seldom  show 
us  how. 

There  is  some  tendency  nowadays  to  hold  that  we 
must  learn  to  skim  the  printed  page.  It  can't  be 
skimmed  unless  we  want  but  a  bird's-eye  view.  True, 
there  are  some  books  written  to  be  skimmed  (most  of 
which,  by  the  way,  might  better  be  left  alone  entirely)  ; 
others  whose  subject-matter  is  so  familiar  to  a  certain 
reader  that  he  need  not  dwell  on  its  every  detail,  be- 
cause in  the  past,  through  patient  study,  he  had  mas- 
tered the  fundamentals  of  the  subject.  But  this  is 
never  true  of  good  literature.  Never!  Never!! 
Never ! ! !  The  wretched  habit  of  skimming  explains 
not  only  our  lack  of  interest  in  and  love  of  good  liter- 
ature, but  the  inability  of  the  average  man  and  woman 
to  grapple  with  any  book  or  treatise  of  weight  and 


18 

merit,  anything  outside  of  the  popular  treatment  of 
the  commonest  occurrences  of  everyday  life.  Nay, 
even  there,  it  is  appalling  how  much  can  be  read  with- 
out understanding,  frequently  with  a  perverted  under- 
standing. For  most  people  the  ability  to  read  (!)  is 
a  fatal  facility  for  recognizing  words.  Their  ability 
leads  them  to  believe  that  they  know  and  understand, 
when  the  truth  is  their  skimming,  skipping  method 
destroys  their  power  of  concentration,  of  prolonged 
attention,  their  interest  in  the  serious  treatment  of  any 
subject,  including  even  those  most  nearly  touching 
their  lives.  Is  it  not  true  that  we  cannot  trust  the 
average  graduate  of  the  average  high  school  to  give 
us  the  gist  of  a  leading  article  or  editorial?  And  only 
one  child  out  of  nineteen  who  enter  the  public  school 
ever  gets  as  far  as  high-school  graduation.  What 
can  we  expect  then  of  those  who  drop  out  at  twelve 
and  thirteen  and  fourteen?  Well,  at  any  rate,  vaude- 
ville prospers,  the  "movie"  houses  are  packed  and 
the  popular  monthly  magazines  sell  by  the  million. 
Shakespeare?  Oh,  yes,  "John  received  a  beautiful 
set  for  graduation ;  it's  on  the  upper  shelf,  left-hand 
side."  In  the  name  of  all  that  is  sound  in  literary 
culture,  what  arraignment  more  terrible  could  be  made 
of  our  methods  than  that  virtually  nobody  reads  good 
literature?  Let  us  at  least  be  honest  and  not  keep 
talking  about  our  priceless  heritage  in  Shakespeare 
and  Milton  and  Wordsworth  and  Shelley  and  Keats 
and  George  Eliot  and  Emerson,  and  frankly  say  they 
are  not  for  the  busy  twentieth  century. 

How  then  can  there  be  any  adequate  vocal  expres- 


INTRODUCTION  19 

sion  when  there  is  so  little  appreciation?  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  elocution — a  noble  art — has  fallen  into 
disrepute;  that  it  is  a  synonym  of  banality,  incapacity, 
rant,  and  affectation  ?  How  can  there  be  good  elocu- 
tion when  the  material  with  which  it  should  deal  is 
outside  of  the  experience  of  the  elocutionist? 

I  believe  that  the  value  of  reading  as  reading  has 
not  been  fully  realized  as  a  truly  educative  study. 
First,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  working  vocabulary, 
which  is  analogous  to  paradigms,  declensions,  for- 
mulae, theorems,  etc.  Secondly,  the  necessity  of  care- 
ful attention  to  all  the  facts  is  not  dissimilar  from 
what  is  required  in  the  laboratory  or  in  the  translation 
of  foreign  languages.  (I  dare  to  suggest  that  be- 
cause of  the  elusiveness  and  complexity  of  language 
the  student's  powers  are  more  taxed  in  careful  obser- 
vation of  the  printed  page  than  in  many  an  experi- 
ment in  the  laboratory.)  And  thirdly,  the  training 
in  concentration,  in  sequential  thinking,  in  logic,  in 
drawing  conclusions  from  observed  facts,  in  detecting 
errors  in  statements  and  in  conclusions — all  this  is,  in 
the  highest  and  best  sense  of  the  word,  educative. 

It  is  my  sincere,  earnest,  humble  hope  that  the 
method  herein  presented  may  heighten  the  student's 
appreciation  of  what  is  best  in  literature,  not  through 
accepting  my  views,  or  anyone's  views,  as  to  what  is 
beautiful  in  prose  and  poetry,  but  through  that  care- 
ful (not  necessarily  dry),  patient  study  of  the  text 
that  alone  can  reveal  its  innermost  meaning. 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 
June,  1915 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 


CHAPTER  I 

GROUPING 

Read  aloud  these  lines  with  no  other  object  than 
just  to  utter  the  words : 

This  I  beheld,  or  dreamed  it  in  a  dream : — 

There  spread  a  cloud  of  dust  along  a  plain ; 

And  underneath  the  cloud,  or  in  it,  raged 

A  furious  battle,  and  men  yelled,  and  swords 

Shocked  upon  swords  and  shields.    A  prince's  banner 

Wavered,  then  staggered  backward,  hemmed  by  foes. 

A  craven  hung  along  the  battle's  edge, 

And  thought,  "Had  I  a  sword  of  keener  steel — 

That  blue  blade  that  the  king's  son  bears, — but  this 

Blunt   thing — !"    he    snapt   and   flung   it    from    his 

hand, 

And  lowering  crept  away  and  left  the  field. 
Then  came  the  king's  son,  wounded,  sore  bestead, 
And  weaponless,  and  saw  the  broken  sword, 
Hilt-buried  in  the  dry  and  trodden  sand, 
And  ran   and  snatched  it,  and  with  battle-shout 
Lifted  afresh  he  hewed  his  enemy  down, 
And  saved  a  great  cause  that  heroic  day. 

— SILL:    Opportunity. 
21 


22      INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Now  read  the  first  six  lines  silently,  trying  to  get 
the  author's  meaning : 

This  I  beheld,  or  dreamed  it  in  a  dream : — 
There  spread  a  cloud  of  dust  along  a  plain ; 
And  underneath  the  cloud,  or  in  it,  raged 
A  furious  battle,  and  men  yelled,  and  swords 
Shocked  upon  swords  and  shields.    A  prince's  banner 
Wavered,  then  staggered  backward,  hemmed  by  foes. 

Have  you  not  noticed  in  this  careful  reading  a 
tendency  to  break  up  the  lines  into  groups  of  words? 
Read  the  poem  again  to  yourself,  very  carefully,  and 
note  that  the  more  determined  you  are  to  get  the 
meaning  the  slower  will  you  read  and  the  more  groups 
will  you  make.  We  might  rearrange  it  something 
like  this : 

This  I  beheld, 

or  dreamed  it  in  a  dream : — 

There  spread  a  cloud  of  dust 

along  a  plain ; 

And  underneath  the  cloud, 

or  in  it, 

raged  A  furious  battle, 

and  men  yelled, 

and  swords  Shocked  upon  swords  and  shields. 

A  prince's  banner  Wavered, 

then  staggered  backward, 

hemmed  by  foes. 

A  craven  hung  along  the  battle's  edge, 

And  thought, 

"Had  I  a  sword  of  keener  steel — 

That  blue  blade  that  the  king's  son  bears, — 

but  this  Blunt  thing — !" 

he  snapt 

and  flung  it  from  his  hand, 


GROUPING  23 

And  lowering 

crept  away 

and  left  the  field. 

Then  came  the  king's  son, 

wounded, 

sore  bestead, 

And  weaponless, 

and  saw  the  broken  sword, 

Hilt-buried  in  the  dry  and  trodden  sand, 

And  ran  and  snatched  it, 

and  with  battle-shout  Lifted  afresh 

he  hewed  his  enemy  down, 

And  saved  a  great  cause 

that  heroic  day. 

This  deliberate  study  of  the  grouping  has  com- 
pelled you  to  read  slowly  and  carefully ;  and  that  is 
the  sole  purpose  of  the  lesson.  It  is  easy  to  recog- 
nize words  and  then  to  pronounce  them,  but  if  one 
is  to  get  the  meaning  he  must  do  hard  thinking.  The 
author  of  this  poem  saw  an  entire  picture,  saw  a  good 
deal  of  it  in  one  glance — just  as  you  can  close  your 
eyes  and  recall  some  picture  of  home,  or  sea,  or  land- 
scape, or  farm — but  when  he  wanted  us  to  see  what 
he  had  seen  he  had  to  describe  it  group  by  group. 
We  must  then  get  these  groups  one  by  one  and  build 
them  up  again  into  complete  pictures.  For  instance, 
in  the  lines: 

There  spread  a  cloud  of  dust  along  a  plain ; 
And  underneath  the  cloud,  or  in  it,  raged 
A  furious  battle,  and  men  yelled,  and  swords 
Shocked  upon  swords  and  shields, 

we  see  a  cloud  of  dust  spreading  along  a  plain,  and  in 
the  midst  of  the  cloud  a  battle  raging  wherein  swords 


24      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

and  shields  shock,  and  men  yell  and  scream.  If  we 
were  looking  at  a  battlefield  we  should  take  in  at  a 
glance  all  that  the  author  here  describes ;  but  when  we 
read  the  words,  so  accustomed  are  we  to  read  care- 
lessly and  without  conscious  determination  to  get  the 
meaning,  that  most  of  us  get  but  a  small  fraction  of 
the  story. 

In  this  first  example  I  have  purposely  chosen  a 
simple  poem.  There  are  no  hard  words,  and  the  con- 
struction is  easy.  If  there  were  many  strange  words, 
and  sentences  long  and  involved,  there  would  be  sev- 
eral kinds  of  difficulties  to  overcome  besides  that  of 
grouping.  But  we  are  taking  one  step  at  a  time. 

Some  of  the  grouping  problems  in  Opportunity 
are  connected  with  the  poetic  form;  but  in  prose, 
because  it  looks  easier  than  verse,  there  is  more 
temptation  than  in  poetry  to  run  words  together 
without  regard  for  the  meaning.  Read  silently  and 
hurriedly  this  passage  from  Silas  Marner. 

The  disposition  to  hoard  had  been  utterly  crushed  at 
the  very  first  by  the  loss  of  his  long-stored  gold:  the 
coins  he  earned  afterwards  seemed  as  irrelevant  as 
stones  brought  to  complete  a  house  suddenly  buried  by 
an  earthquake;  the  sense  of  bereavement  was  too  heavy 
upon  him  for  the  old  thrill  of  satisfaction  to  rise  again 
at  the  touch  of  the  newly-earned  coin.  And  now  some- 
thing had  come  to  replace  his  hoard  which  gave  a 
growing  purpose  to  the  earnings,  drawing  his  hope  and 
joy  continually  onward  beyond  the  money. 

Now  in  order  that  no  part  of  the  picture  may  pos- 
sibly escape  us  let  us  group  the  lines  as  follows: 


GROUPING  25 

The  disposition  to  hoard 

had  been  utterly  crushed 

at  the  very  first 

by  the  loss  of  his  long-stored  gold: 

the  coins  he  earned  afterwards 

seemed  as  irrelevant 

as  stones  brought  to  complete  a  house 

suddenly  buried  by  an  earthquake ; 

the  sense  of  bereavement 

was  too  heavy  upon  him 

for  the  old  thrill  of  satisfaction 

to  rise  again 

at  the  touch  of  the  newly-earned  coin. 

And  now 

something  had  come 

to  replace  his  hoard 

which  gave  a  growing  purpose 

to  the  earnings, 

drawing  his  hope  and  joy 

continually  onward 

beyond  the  money. 

Of  course,  the  grouping  is  overdone,  but  nevertheless 
it  serves  to  illustrate  the  principle  we  arc  studying.  A 
slow  reader  might  be  justified  in  such  detailed  study, 
but  after  he  becomes  familiar  with  the  text  I  think  he 
will  find  that  a  grouping  about  like  the  following  will 
give  the  best  interpretation : 

The  disposition  to  hoard  had  been  utterly  crushed 
at  the  very  first  by  the  loss  of  his  long-stored  gold ; 
the  coins  he  earned  afterwards  seemed  as  irrel- 
evant as  stones  brought  to  complete  a  house  sud- 
denly buried  by  an  earthquake;  the  sense  of 
bereavement  was  too  heavy  upon  him  for  the  old 
thrill  of  satisfaction  to  rise  again  at  the  louch  of  the 


26 

newly-earned  coin.  And  now  something  had  come  to 
replace  his  hoard  which  gave  a  growing  purpose  to 
the  earnings,  drawing  his  hope  and  joy  continually 
onward  beyond  the  money. 

(The  spaces  do  not  indicate  a  long  pause,  but  a 
separation  of  groups  to  prevent  blurring.) 

EXERCISES 

The  student  will  prepare  to  read  aloud  in  class  the 
following  selections  to  illustrate  the  principle  of 
grouping.  Do  not  be  misled  by  the  seeming  simplic- 
ity of  these  passages.  While  most  of  the  groups  are 
easily  apprehended  there  are  several  places  where  the 
idea  will  escape  you  if  you  are  not  careful. 

Not  what  we  have,  but  what  we  use; 
Not  what  we  see,  but  what  we  choose — 
These  are  the  things  that  mar  or  bless 
The  sum  of  human  happiness. 

Not  as  we  take,  but  as  we  give; 
Not  as  we  pray,  but  as  we  live — 
These  are  the  things  that  make  for  peace, 
Both  now  and  after  time  shall  cease. 

He  rose,  and  clad  himself,  and  girt  his  sword. 

And  took  his  horseman's  cloak,  and  left  his  tent, 
And  went  abroad  into  the  cold  wet  fog, 

Through  the  dim  camp  to  Peran-Wisa's  tent. 

The  things  which  I  have  seen  I  now  can  see  no  more. 

I  could  not  love  thee,  dear,  so  much 
Loved  I  not  honor  more. 


GEOUPING  27 

The  dead  are  many,  and  the  living  few. 
How  near  to  good  is  what  is  fair! 

A  ride  of  two  hundred  and  odd  miles  in  severe  weather 
is  one  of  the  best  softeners  of  a  hard  bed  that  ingenuity 
can  devise. 

The  sea!  the  sea!  the  open  sea! 

The  blue,  the  fresh,  the  ever  free! 

Without  a  mark,  without  a  bound, 

It  runneth  the  earth's  wide  regions  round; 

It  plays  with  the  clouds,  it  mocks  the  skies, 

Or  like  a  cradled  creature  lies. 

I'm  on  the  sea,  I'm  on  the  sea, 

I  am  where  I  would  ever  be, 

With  the  blue  above  and  the  blue  below, 

And  silence  wheresoe'er  I  go. 

If  a  storm  should  come  and  awake  the  deep, 

What  matter?     I  shall  ride  and  sleep. 

I  love,  oh !  how  I  love  to  ride 
On  the  fierce,  foaming,  bursting  tide, 
Where  every  mad  wave  drowns  the  moon, 
And  whistles  aloft  its  tempest  tune, 
And  tells  how  goeth  the  world  below, 
And  why  the  southwest  wind  doth  blow ! 

I  never  was  on  the  dull,  tame  shore 

But  I  loved  the  great  sea  more  and  more. 

And  backward  flew  to  her  billowy  breast, 

Like  a  bird  that  seeketh  her  mother's  nest, — 

And  a  mother  she  was  and  is  to  me, 

For  I  was  born  on  the  open  sea. 

The  waves  were  white,  and  red  the  morn, 

In  the  noisy  hour  when  I  was  born; 

The  whale  it  whistled,  the  porpoise  rolled. 


28      INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

And  the  dolphins  bared  their  backs  of  gold; 
And  never  was  heard  such  an  outcry  wild, 
As  welcomed  to  life  the  ocean  child. 

I  have  lived  since  then,  in  calm  and  strife, 
Full  fifty  summers  a  rover's  life, 
With  wealth  to  spend,  and  a  power  to  range, 
But  never  have  sought  or  sighed  for  change : 
And  death,  whenever  he  comes  to  me, 
Shall  come  on  the  wide,  unbounded  sea ! 

— CORNWALL:  The  Sea. 

An  hour  before  sunset,  on  the  evening  of  a  day  in 
the  beginning  of  October,  1815,  a  man  travelling  afoot 
entered  the  little  town  of  D — .  It  would  have  been 
hard  to  find  a  passer-by  more  wretched  in  appearance. 
A  slouched  leather  cap  half  hid  his  face,  bronzed  by 
the  sun  and  wind,  and  dripping  with  sweat.  He  wore 
a  cravat  twisted  like  a  rope;  coarse  blue  trousers,  worn 
and  shabby,  white  on  one  knee  and  with  holes  in  the 
other;  an  old,  ragged,  gray  blouse  patched  on  one  side 
with  a  piece  of  green  cloth  sewed  with  twine;  upon  his 
back  was  a  well-filled  knapsack;  in  his  hand  he  carried 
an  enormous  knotted  stick;  his  stockingless  feet  were 
in  hobnailed  shoes;  his  hair  was  cropped  and  his  beard 
long. — HUGO  :  Les  Miserables. 

Near  yonder  copse,  where  once  the  garden  smiled, 

And  still  where  many  a  garden  flower  grows  wild ; 

There,  where  a  few  torn  shrubs  the  place  disclose, 

The  village  preacher's  modest  mansion  rose. 

A  man  he  was  to  all  the  country  dear, 

And  passing  rich  with  forty  pounds  a  year; 

Remote  from  towns  he  ran  his  goodly  race, 

Nor  e'er  had  changed,  nor  wished  to  change,  his  place : 

Unpracticed  he  to  fawn,  or  seek  for  power, 

By  doctrines  fashioned  to  the  varying  hour; 

Far  other  aims  his  heart  had  learned  to  prize, 


GROUPING  29 

More  bent  to  raise  the  wretched  than  to  rise. 

His  house  was  known  to  all  the  vagrant  train; 

He  chid  their  wand'rings,  but  relieved  their  pain; 

The  long-remembered  beggar  was  his  guest, 

Whose  beard  descending  swept  his  aged  breast; 

The  ruined  spendthrift/  now  no  longer  proud, 

Claimed  kindred  there,  and  had  his  claim  allowed ; 

The  broken  soldier,  kindly  bade  to  stay, 

Sat  by  his  fire,  and  talked  the  night  away; 

Wept  o'er  his  wounds,  or,  tales  of  sorrow  done, 

Shouldered  his  crutch  and  showed  how  fields  were  won. 

Pleased  with  his  guests,  the  good  man  learned  to  glow, 

And  quite  forgot  their  vices  in  their  woe; 

Careless  their  merits  or  their  faults  to  scan, 

His  pity  gave  ere  charity  began. 

— GOLDSMITH:    The  Deserted   Village. 

Bruce  caused  his  men  to  lie  down  to  take  some  sleep, 
at  a  place  about  half  a  mile  distant  from  the  river, 
while  he  himself,  with  two  attendants,  went  down  to 
watch  the  ford,  through  which  the  enemy  must  needs 
pass  before  they  could  come  to  the  place  where  King 
Robert's  men  were  lying.  He  stood  for  some  time  look- 
ing at  the  ford,  and  thinking  how  easily  the  enemy  might 
be  kept  from  passing  there,  provided  it  was  bravely 
defended,  when  he  heard  at  a  distance  the  baying  of 
a  hound,  which  was  always  coming  nearer  and  nearer. 
This  was  the  bloodhound  which  was  tracing  the  King's 
steps  to  the  ford  where  he  had  crossed,  and  the  two 
hundred  Galloway  men  were  along  with  the  animal,  and 
guided  by  it.  Bruce  at  first  thought  of  going  back  to 
awaken  his  men ;  but  then  he  reflected  that  it  might  be 
only  some  shepherd's  dog.  "My  men,"  said  he,  "are 
sorely  tired;  I  will  not  disturb  their  sleep  for  the  yelp- 
ing of  a  cur,  till  I  know  something  more  of  the 
matter."  So  he  stood  and  listened ;  and  by  and  by,  as 
the  cry  of  the  hound  came  nearer,  he  began  to  hear  a 


30 

trampling  of  horses,  and  the  voices  of  men,  and  the 
ringing  and  clattering  of  armor,  and  then  he  was  sure 
the  enemy  were  coming  to  the  river  side.  Then  the 
King  thought,  "If  I  go  back  to  give  my  men  the  alarm, 
these  Galloway  men  will  get  through  the  ford  without 
opposition;  and  that  would  be  a  pity,  since  it  is  a  place 
so  advantageous  to  make  defence  against  them."  So  he 
looked  again  at  the  steep  path,  and  the  deep  river,  and 
he  thought  that  they  gave  him  so  much  advantage,  that 
he  himself  could  defend  the  passage  with  his  own  hand, 
until  his  men  came  to  assist  him.  His  armor  was  so 
good  and  strong,  that  he  had  no  fear  of  arrows,  and 
therefore  the  combat  was  not  so  very  unequal  as  it  must 
have  otherwise  been.  He  therefore  sent  his  followers 
to  waken  his  men,  and  remained  alone  by  the  bank  of 
the  river. — SCOTT:  Tales  of  a  Grandfather. 

A  group  may  contain  a  single  word  only?  as: 

Charge,  Chester,  charge !    On,  Stanley,  on ! 
Were  the  last  words  of  Marmion. 

Hence !  home,  you  idle  creatures,  get  you  home. 
One,  two,  three,  fire ! 
Away,  slight  man ! 

King,  duke,  earl, 
Count,  baron — whom  he  smote,  he  overthrew. 

In  all  reading  there  is  danger  of  two  kinds  of  mis- 
takes; first,  where  we  get  no  meaning,  or  only  a 
partial  one;  and  secondly,  where  we  get  the  wrong 
meaning.  We  come  across  examples  of  both  forms 
in  this  first  chapter.  Students,  then,  should  con- 


GROUPING  31 

stantly  ask  themselves,  Do  I  get  any  meaning?  or, 
Is  that  the  right  meaning?  To  be  sure,  all  troubles 
do  not  vanish  when  you  have  grouped  correctly,  but 
this  is  certain :  Grouping  lielps  to  locate  the  difficulty, 
and  that  goes  a  long  way  towards  remedying  it.  Let 
the  following  illustrations  serve  as  models.  The  first 
shows  how  impossible  it  is  to  get  the  idea  unless  we 
proceed  group  by  group.  There  is  little  trouble  in 
the  words,  thought,  or  style,  but  the  sentence  is  long 
and  contains  so  many  ideas,  that  we  get  no  meaning 
unless  we  group  carefully. 

When,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  nec- 
essary for  one  people  to  dissolve  the  political  bands 
which  have  connected  them  with  another,  and  to  assume, 
among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  the  separate  and  equal 
station  to  which  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God 
entitle  them,  a  decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  man- 
kind requires  that  they  should  declare  the  causes  which 
impel  them  to  the  separation. 

In  the  following  passages  you  may  get  a  wrong 
meaning  unless  you  are  particularly  careful  in  your 
grouping. 

And  the  Lord  God  said,  It  is  not  good  that  the  man 
should  be  alone ;  I  will  make  him  an  help  meet  for  him. 
(Parse  "him"  after  "make.") 

With  farmer  Allan  at  the  farm  abode 
William   and   Dora. 

The  fox  was  seen  three  nights  running  in  the  barn- 
yard. 


32      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

We  can  hardly  believe  there  are  such  villains  in  the 
world;  but  the  fact  that  there  are  such  shows  that  we 
must  always  be  on  our  guard. 

No  stir  in  the  air,  no  stir  in  the  sea, 
The  ship  was  as  still  as  she  could  be; 
Her  sails  from  heaven  received  no  motion, 
Her  keel  was  steady  in  the  ocean. 

O  Jimmy,  and  Johnny,  and  Willy,  friends  of  my 
youth !  O  noble  and  dear  old  Elias !  how  should  he  who 
knows  you  not  respect  you  and  your  calling. 

Moses  was  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh's  son. 

Everything  depended  upon  the  weather,  and  although 
the  rough  autumn  was  not  come  yet  the  prime  of  the 
youthful  year  was  past. 

LENGTH  OF  GROUP  IN  SILENT  AND  ORAL  READING 

ATo  absolute  rule  can  be  laid  down  for  the  length 
of  groups.  When  you  read  you  probably  find  that 
your  eye  takes  in  clauses  and  whole  sentences  at  one 
sweep.  The  more  familiar  the  words  and  ideas  and 
the  simpler  the  text  the  longer  will  be  your  groups ; 
but  no  matter  how  easy  the  text,  the  group  seldom 
exceeds  ten  to  fifteen  or  twenty  words.  And  con- 
trariwise, the  more  difficult  the  text  the  shorter  your 
groups.  You  keep  saying  to  yourself,  What  does 
this  mean?  and  find  yourself  breaking  the  difficult 
entences  up  into  small  and  smaller  groups.  Of 
course,  after  the  difficulties  are  removed — of  words, 
style,  ideas,  and  the  like — the  hard  passages  become 
comparatively  easy,  and  as  a  consequence  you  can 


GROUPING  33 

take   in   larger   and   larger   units    of   thought.      In 
Lowell's  beautiful  address  on  Our  Literature  he  says : 

That  nation  is  a  mere  horde  supplying  figures  to  the 
census  which  does  not  acknowledge  a  truer  prosperity 
and  a  richer  contentment  in  the  things  of  the  mind. 
Railways  and  telegraphs  reckoned  by  the  thousand 
miles  are  excellent  things  in  their  way,  but  I  doubt 
whether  it  be  of  their  poles  and  sleepers  that  the  rounds 
are  made  of  that  ladder  by  which  men  or  nations  scale 
the  cliffs  whose  inspiring  obstacle  interposes  itself  be- 
tween them  and  the  fulfilment  of  their  highest  purpose 
and  function. 

There  are  some  hard  words  in  this  passage,  but 
even  after  you  get  their  meaning  you  still  find  your- 
self making  many  groups  in  order  to  get  the  sense. 

And  when  it  comes  to  reading  aloud  (which  is  only 
a  half  or  a  third  as  rapid  as  silent  reading),  again 
there  is  no  absolute  rule  for  the  length  of  groups. 
All  that  can  be  said  is  that  in  reading  aloud  the 
groups  become  shorter;  just  how  short  can  be  deter- 
mined only  by  the  difficulty  of  the  text  and  the  nature 
of  the  audience.  When  you  read  silently  you  scarcely 
recognize  that  you  are  making  groups;  but  in  oral 
reading  the  groups  are  clearly  separated  by  pauses  of 
varying  lengths.  Such  a  sentence  as  the  following 
is  so  simple  that,  reading  it  silently,  our  groups  would 
be  rather  long;  but  if  we  were  reading  it  aloud  there 
would  probably  be  twice  as  many  groups,  marked  off 
by  pauses. 

One  night  when  he  was  climbing  the  stairs  of  his 
lodging,  thinking  what  he  would  do  the  next  day,  he 


34      INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

heard  the  angry  voices  of  two  men  in  the  room  he  was 
about  to  enter,  and  he  recognized  one  as  that  of  an  old 
man  from  Paris  who  shared  the  room  with  him  and 
George. 

"Yes,"  the  man  from  Paris  was  saying  angrily,  "I  am 
sure  that  somebody  has  broken  open  my  trunk  and  stolen 
the  three  francs  which  I  had  hidden  in  a  little  box;  and 
the  man  who  did  the  trick  can  only  be  one  of  the  two 
companions  who  sleep  here,  unless  it  is  Maria,  the  serv- 
ant. This  is  your  business  as  much  as  mine,  since  you 
are  master  of  the  house;  and  I  will  hale  you  to  court 
if  you  do  not  let  me  at  once  go  through  the  valises." 

Read  first  silently  and  then  aloud  the  following 
to  be  sure  you  understand  the  principle  we  are  dis- 
cussing. You  will  see  that  because  the  excerpt  is 
hard  you  make  many  groups  in  your  silent  reading, 
and  that,  in  your  oral  reading,  you  make  still  more. 

But  if  our  relations  with  the  East  are  in  the  future 
characterized  by  sympathy,  tact  and  fair  dealing,  if  we 
are  not  stampeded  or  unduly  agitated  by  special  plead- 
ing on  either  side,  we  may  be  able  practically  to  dem- 
onstrate our  good-will  both  for  China  and  for  Japan, 
and  our  readiness  to  cooperate  with  other  Powers  inter- 
ested in  the  maintenance  of  peace  in  Eastern  Asia. — 
The  New  Republic. 

To  put  the  matter  briefly:  In  silent  reading  we 
naturally  make  more  and  shorter  groups  where  the 
text  is  difficult  than  when  it  is  simple;  and,  whether 
the  style  is  easy  or  hard,  we  make  more  groups  in  oral 
reading  than  in  silent. 

There  are  two  reasons  why  there  are  more  groups 
in  vocal  expression  than  in  silent  reading.  The  first 


GROUPING  35 

is  that  we  stop  for  breath.  This  does  not  mean  that 
we  do  this  consciously ;  but  since  we  cannot  read  on 
and  on  without  pausing  for  breath,  we  form  the  habit 
of  breaking  up  sentences  into  groups  shorter  than  we 
should  make  in  silent  reading.  And  this  is  true,  of 
course,  whether  we  read  aloud  for  ourselves  or  to 
others. 

And  secondly,  as  we  read  aloud  to  an  auditor  we 
come  to  see  that,  since  he  has  no  text  before  him,  he 
cannot  grasp  the  meaning  as  rapidly  as  he  does  in 
silent  reading,  and  we  therefore  more  or  less  uncon- 
sciously use  the  shorter  group.  It  is  essential  to  bear 
in  mind  that  as  the  reader  becomes  familiar  with  the 
text  there  is  danger  that  he  may  forget  that 
the  audience  is  not  familiar  with  it.  This  he  must 
never  do.  He  should  decide  where  is  approximately 
the  best  place  to  pause  and  then  not  forget  it.  Here 
is  a  humorous  illustration  of  the  need  of  much  more 
frequent  pausing  when  reading  to  another  than  when 
reading  silently : 

Esau  Wood  sawed  wood.  Esau  Wood  would  saw 
wood.  All  the  wood  Esau  Wood  saw  Esau  Wood  would 
saw.  In  other  words,  all  the  wood  Esau  saw  to  saw 
Esau  sought  to  saw.  Oh,  the  wood  Wood  would  saw! 
And  oh!  the  wood-saw  with  which  Wood  would  saw 
wood !  But  one  day  Wood's  wood-saw  would  saw  no 
wood,  and  thus  the  wood  Wood  sawed  was  not  the  wood 
Wood  would  saw  if  Wood's  wood-saw  would  saw  wood. 
Now,  Wood  would  saw  wood  with  a  wood-saw  that 
would  saw  wood,  so  Esau  sought  a  saw  that  would  saw 
wood.  One  day  Esau  saw  a  saw  saw  wood  as  no  other 
wood-saw  Wood  saw  would  saw  wood.  In  fact,  of  all 


36      INTEKPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

the  wood-saws  Wood  ever  saw  saw  wood  Wood  never 
saw  a  wood-saw  that  would  saw  wood  as  the  wood-saw 
Wood  saw  saw  wood  would  saw  wood,  and  I  never  saw 
a  wood-saw  that  would  saw  as  the  wood-saw  Wood  saw 
would  saw  until  I  saw  Esau  Wood  saw  wood  with  the 
wood-saw  Wood  saw  saw  wood.  Now  Wood  saws  wood 
with  the  wood-saw  Wood  saw  saw  wood. 

Now  while  it  is  true  that  one  can  lay  down  no  hard- 
and-fast  rule  for  determining  the  length  of  the  groups 
in  vocal  expression,  one  can  be  pretty  sure  as  to  their 
shortness.  For  instance,  one  might  group 

There  spread  a  cloud  of  dust 
along  a  plain, 
or, 

There  spread  a  cloud  of  dust  along  a  plain; 

but  no  one  would  read 

There  spread  a 
cloud  of 
dust  along 
a  plain. 

And  so  we  conclude  that  a  group  is  made  up  of  an 
idea,  or  picture,  or  a  fairly  complete  part  of  an  idea 
or  picture,  and  that  is  about  as  far  as  we  can  go  at 
present  by  way  of  definition.  Fortunately,  however, 
common  sense  is  all  we  need  to  guide  us. 

As  for  the  length  of  the  group  in  vocal  expression, 
a  good  general  principle  to  observe  is,  The  longer  the 
group  the  "better,  all  things  being  equal.  Too  many 
groups  tend  to  becloud  the  picture,  but  don't  forget 
all  things  being  equal.  Make  all  the  groups  you 


GEOUPING  37 

think  necessary  in  order  to  have  your  listener  get  a 
maximum  of  your  meaning  with  the  minimum  of 
effort  on  his  part ;  but  after  that  make  as  few  pauses 
as  possible. 

A  very  interesting  example  of  what  we  have  been 
discussing  is  found  in  the  next  quotation  in  the  clause 
beginning  "bending  and  straightening,"  where  the 
picture  is  that  of  one  continuous  action  of  a  man 
bending  in  order  to  take  the  stones  from  the  man 
below,  and  then  straightening  his  back  in  order  to 
hand  the  stones  to  the  workman  who  is  evidently 
standing  above  him.  The  last  eleven  words  are  bet- 
ter handled  as  one  group: 

After  a  long  day  passed  on  the  ladder,  in  the  full 
sun,  in  the  dust,  bending  and  straightening  his  back  to 
take  the  stones  from  the  hands  of  the  man  below  him 
and  to  pass  them  to  the  man  above  him,  he  came  home 
to  get  a  meal  at  the  cheap  eating  house,  dead  tired,  his 
legs  heavy,  his  hands  burning,  and  his  eyelashes  stuck 
together  by  the  plaster,  but  satisfied  with  himself,  and 
carrying  his  well-earned  money  in  the  knot  of  his 
handkerchief. — COPPEE:  The  Substitute. 

A  slight  pause  after  "below  him"  could  be  de- 
fended, but,  on  the  whole,  the  clause  is  better  read 
without  it. 

Here  are  some  further  examples  where  longer  rather 
than  shorter  groupings  seem  to  be  preferable: 

Without  looking  to  the  right  or  left  to  notice  the 
scene  of  rural  wealth,  on  which  he  had  so  often  gloated, 
he  went  straight  to  the  stable,  and  with  several  hearty 
cuffs  and  kicks,  roused  his  steed  most  uncourteously  from 
the  comfortable  quarters  in  which  he  was  soundly  sleep- 


38      INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

ing.  dreaming  of  mountains  of  corn  and  oats,  and  whole 
valleys  of  timothy  and  clover. — WASHINGTON  IRVING: 
The  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow. 

It  is  reported  in  the  Bohemian  story  that  Saint 
Wenceslaus,  their  king,  going  one  winter  night  to  his 
devotions  in  a  remote  church,  barefooted  in  the  snow 
and  sharpness  of  unequal  and  pointed  ice,  his  servant 
Podavivus,  who  waited  upon  his  master's  piety  and 
endeavored  to  imitate  his  affections,  began  to  faint 
through  the  violence  of  the  snow  and  cold  till  the  king 
commanded  him  to  follow  him  and  set  his  feet  in  the 
same  footsteps  which  his  feet  should  mark  for  him. — 
JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

Stand  farther  from  me,  lest  I  should  lay  hands  on 
you,  and  I'll  tell  you  what  I  mean.  I  mean,  taking 
advantage  of  a  young  girl's  foolishness  and  ignorance 
to  get  her  to  have  secret  meetings  with  you.  I  mean, 
daring  to  trifle  with  the  respectability  of  a  family  that 
has  a  good  and  honest  name  to  support.  .  .  .  Do 
you  mean  to  pretend  that  you  didn't  know  it  would  be 
injurious  to  her  to  meet  you  here  week  after  week? 
Do  you  pretend  you  have  any  right  to  make  profes- 
sions of  love  to  her  when  neither  her  father  nor  your 
father  would  ever  consent  to  a  marriage  between  you? 
— ELIOT:  The  Mill  on  the  Floss. 


GKOUPING  AND  PUNCTUATION 

Many  people  believe  that  grouping  depends  solely 
on  punctuation.  In  a  later  chapter  we  will  study  in 
detail  the  relation  of  punctuation  to  interpretation, 
but  at  this  point  it  is  enough  to  say  that  punctuation 
in  itself  does  not  determine  the  grouping  and  paus- 
ing. The  punctuation  helps  us  to  get  the  sense,  and 


GROUPING  39 

the  sense,  and  the  sense  alone,  determines  the  group. 
Have  we  not  found  in  the  first  place  many  illustra- 
tions of  the  groups  ending  where  there  was  no  period, 
comma,  or  any  other  mark?  as: 

The  things  which  I  have  seen  I  now  can  see  no  more. 

Secondly,  in  making  groups  in  easy  reading  we 
often  run  over  marks  of  punctuation.  When  you 
say,  "No,  father,"  strictly  speaking  you  have  two 
groups;  for  you  do  not  mean  "No  father,"  and  the 
comma  is  inserted  to  show  that  you  do  not  mean  this; 
not  to  have  you  pause  after  "No."  Again,  "Stop, 
Johnnie"  needs  the  comma  to  make  the  sense  clear; 
but  one  does  not  pause  after  "Stop."  Should  some- 
one ask  you,  "What  are  the  days  of  the  week?"  you 
answer  virtually  without  pause  between  the  words, 
"Sunday  Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday,"  etc.  But 
if  your  answer  were  printed,  there  would  be  commas 
separating  the  days.  So  usually  in  naming  the  colors 
in  our  flag  we  say,  "They  are  red  white  and  blue." 
But  printed,  the  sentence  reads,  "They  are  red,  white, 
and  blue."  Remember,  it  is  not  claimed  that  we  always 
run  such  small  groups  together;  but  that  we  fre- 
quently and  rightly  do  so  when  there  is  no  special 
emphasis  required.  (You  see,  of  course,  that  if  we 
wanted  to  impress  these  colors  on  one  who  knew  noth- 
ing about  our  flag  we  should  not  run  the  groups  to- 
gether.) Here  then  we  come  to  see  how  punctuation 
is  used  to  make  the  meaning  clear.  Whether  we  make 
three  groups  or  only  one,  the  sense  is  the  same,  and  the 
commas  are  necessarv  to  that  sense;  but  how  we  ex- 


40      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

press  ourselves  depends  on  the  context  or  setting. 
These  illustrations  and  many  similar  ones  show  us 
that  marks  of  punctuation  do  not  always  indicate  a 
place  to  pause.  This  need  never  confuse  the  student 
if  he  will  but  remember  to  read  as  he  would  speak. 

You  need  not  be  reminded  of  the  third  classifica- 
tion, that  which  includes  those  groups  wherein  the 
pause  and  punctuation  coincide.  Illustrations  abound 
on  every  page. 

We  have  now  seen  that  punctuation  does  not  neces- 
sarily determine  our  pauses.  It  is  interesting  to  know 
in  this  connection  that  the  early  Hebrews,  and  Greeks, 
and  Romans  had  no  punctuation  at  all  in  their  manu- 
scripts, and  yet  these  were  read  and  understood.  Here 
is  something  in  our  own  language  as  it  might  have 
been  printed  if  there  were  no  such  thing  as  punctua- 
tion, and  from  it  you  will  see  that  the  sense  alone 
determines  the  grouping. 

And  he  said  A  certain  man  had  two  sons  and  the 
younger  of  them  said  to  his  father  Father  give  me  the 
portion  of  thy  substance  that  falleth  to  me  And  he 
divided  unto  them  his  living  And  not  many  days  after 
the  younger  son  gathered  all  together  and  took  his 
journey  into  a  far  country  and  there  he  wasted  his 
substance  with  riotous  living  And  when  he  had  spent 
all  there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  country  and  he 
began  to  be  in  want  And  he  went  and  joined  himself 
to  one  of  the  citizens  of  that  country  and  he  sent  him 
into  his  fields  to  feed  the  swine  And  he  would  fain 
have  been  filled  with  the  husks  that  the  swine  did  eat 
and  no  man  gave  unto  him  But  when  he  came  to  him- 
self he  said  How  many  hired  servants  of  my  father's 
have  bread  enough  and  to  spare  and  I  perish  with 


GBOUPING  41 

hunger  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father  and  will  say 
unto  him  Father  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  in 
thy  sight  I  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son 
make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants  And  he  arose  and 
came  to  his  father 

Even  today  an  author  writes  on  with  no  thought  of 
punctuation  until  he  comes  to  a  place  when  he  sees 
that  to  make  his  meaning  clear,  or  easier  to  get,  or 
to  prevent  obscurity,  some  mark  of  punctuation  is 
necessary  or  helpful.  Here  is  an  illustration  where 
the  writer  must  be  very  careful  with  his  punctuation 
because  the  words  may  be  made  to  convey  two  entirely 
different  meanings: 

I  don't  want  your  gold;  but,  if  you  will,  stay  with  us 
and  be  our  guest:  you  are  welcome. 

I  don't  want  your  gold;  but  if  you  will  stay  with  us 
and  be  our  guest,  you  are  welcome. 

So  far  as  grouping  is  concerned  here,  everything  de- 
pends on  the  marks  after  "but"  and  "will."  But 
when  you  have  the  sense  in  either  case  you  are 
independent  of  punctuation  marks,  and  do  not  need 
them,  let  me  repeat,  to  guide  your  pausing. 

The  mark,  then,  is  an  aid  to  getting  the  sense,  and 
the  sense  and  not  the  mark  determines  the  group. 

REVIEW  EXERCISES 

Sir  Walter  Vivian  all  a  summer's  day 
Gave  his  broad  lawns  until  the  set  of  sun 
Up  to  the  people. 

— TENNYSON:  The  Princess. 


42       INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

The  good  old  rule 
Sufficeth  them,  the  simple  plan, 
That  they  should  take  who  have  the  power 
And  they  should  keep  who  can. 

— WORDSWORTH. 

His  words  are  bonds,  his  oaths  are  oracles, 
His  love  sincere,  his  thoughts  immaculate, 
His  tears  pure  messengers  sent  from  his  heart, 
His  heart  as  far  from  fraud  as  heaven  from  earth. 
— The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  II,  vii. 

True  hope  is  swift,  and  flies  with  swallows'  wings; 
Kings  it  makes  gods,  and  meaner  creatures  kings. 

One   who  never   turned   his   back   but  marched   breast 

forward, 

Never  doubted  clouds  would  break, 
Never  dreamed,  though  right  were  worsted,  wrong  would 

triumph, 
Held  we  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better,  sleep  to 

wake. 

— ROBERT  BROWNING:    Asolando. 

Be  calm  in  arguing,  for  fierceness  makes  error  a  fault 
and  truth  discourtesy. 

From  the  west  there  sounded  the  harsh  gong  of  a 
fire  engine  which  was  pounding  rapidly  down  the  car 
tracks.  It  came,  rocking  in  a  whirlwind  of  galloping 
horses  and  swaying  men.  The  crowd  on  the  street 
broke  into  a  run,  streaming  along  the  sidewalk  in  the 
wake  of  the  engine.  The  architect  woke  from  his  dead 
thoughts  and  ran  with  the  crowd.  Two,  three,  four 
blocks,  they  sped  toward  the  lake,  which  curves  east- 
ward at  this  point,  and  as  he  ran  the  street  became 
strangely  familiar  to  him.  The  crowd  turned  south 


GBOTJPING  43 

along  a  broad  avenue  that  led  to  the  park.  Some  one 
cried:  "There  it  is !  It's  the  hotel !" — ROBERT  HEURICK: 
The  Common  Lot. 

(How  many  groups  in  the  second  sentence?) 

How  the  guineas  shone  as  they  came  pouring  out! 
He  spread  them  out  in  heaps  and  bathed  his  hands  in 
them;  then  he  counted  them  and  set  them  up  in  regular 
piles;  and  felt  their  rounded  outline  between  his  thumb 
and  fingers,  and  thought  fondly  of  the  guineas  that 
were  only  half-earned  by  the  work  in  his  loom,  as  if 
they  had  been  unborn  children — thought  of  the  guineas 
that  were  coming  slowly,  through  the  coming  years, 
through  all  his  life,  which  spread  far  away  before  him, 
the  end  quite  hidden  by  countless  days  of  weaving.  No 
wonder  his  thoughts  were  still  with  his  loom  and  his 
money  when  he  made  his  journeys  through  the  fields 
and  the  lanes  to  fetch  and  carry  home  his  work,  so  that 
his  steps  never  wandered  to  the  hedge-banks  and  the 
lane-side  in  search  of  the  once  familiar  herbs:  these 
too  belonged  to  the  past,  from  which  his  life  had  shrunk 
away,  like  a  rivulet  that  has  sunk  far  down  from  the 
grassy  fringe  of  its  old  breadth  into  a  little  shivering 
thread,  that  cuts  a  groove  for  itself  in  the  barren  sand. 
— ELIOT:  Silas  Marner. 

The  weaver  had  possibly  got  a  lantern,  and  Dunstan 
was  tired  of  feeling  his  way.  He  was  still  nearly  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  from  home,  and  the  lane  was  becom- 
ing unpleasantly  slippery,  for  the  mist  was  passing  into 
rain.  He  turned  up  the  bank,  not  without  some  fear 
lest  he  might  miss  the  right  way,  since  he  was  not  cer- 
tain whether  the  light  were  in  front  or  on  the  side  of 
the  cottage.  But  he  felt  the  ground  before  him  cau- 
tiously with  his  whip-handle,  and  at  last  arrived  safely 
at  the  door.  He  knocked  loudly,  rather  enjoying  the 
idea  that  the  old  fellow  would  be  frightened  at  the 


44      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

sudden  noise.  He  heard  no  movement  in  reply:  all  was 
silence  in  the  cottage.  Was  the  weaver  gone  to  bed, 
then?  If  so,  why  had  he  left  a  light?  That  was  a 
strange  forgetfulness  in  a  miser.  Dunstan  knocked  still 
more  loudly,  and,  without  pausing  for  a  reply,  pushed 
his  fingers  through  the  latch-hole,  intending  to  shake 
the  door  and  pull  the  latch-string  up  and  down,  not 
doubting  that  the  door  was  fastened.  But,  to  his  sur- 
prise, at  this  double  motion  the  door  opened,  and  he 
found  himself  in  front  of  a  bright  fire,  which  lit  up 
every  corner  of  the  cottage — the  bed,  the  loom,  the  three 
chairs,  and  the  table — and  showed  him  that  Marner  was 
not  there. — Ibid. 

Salanio.     Believe  me,  sir,  had  I  such  venture  forth, 
The  better  part  of  my  affections  would 
Be  with  my  hopes  abroad.     I  should  be  still 
Plucking  the  grass,  to  know  where  sits  the  wind. 
Peering  in  maps  for  ports  and  piers  and  roads ; 
And  every  object  that  might  make  me  fear 
Misfortune  to  my  ventures,  out  of  doubt 
Would  make  me  sad. 

— The  Merchant  of  Venice,  I.  i. 

Bassanio.     'Tis  not  unknown  to  you,  Antonio, 
How  much  I  have  disabled  mine  estate, 
By  something  showing  a  more  swelling  port 
Than  my  faint  means  would  grant  continuance: 
Nor  do  I  now  make  moan  to  be  abridged 
From  such  a  noble  rate;  but  my  chief  care 
Is  to  come  fairly  off  from  the  great  debts 
Wherein  my  time  something  too  prodigal 
Hath  left  me  gaged.     To  you,  Antonio, 
I  owe  the  most,  in  money  and  in  love, 
And  from  your  love  I  have  a  warranty 
To  unburden  all  my  plots  and  purposes 
How  to  get  clear  of  all  the  debts  I  owe. 

— Ibid.,  I,  i. 


GROUPING  45 

Bassanio.     In  my  school-days,  when  I  had  lost  one  shaft, 

I  shot  his  fellow  of  the  self-same  flight 

The  self-same  way  with  more  advised  watch, 

To  find  the  other  forth,  and  by  adventuring  both 

I  oft  found  both:  I  urge  this  childhood  proof, 

Because  what  follows  is  pure  innocence. 

I  owe  you  much,  and,  like  a  wilful  youth, 

That  which  I  owe  is  lost;  but  if  you  please 

To  shoot  another  arrow  that  self  way 

Which  you  did  shoot  the  first,  I  do  not  doubt, 

As  I  will  watch  the  aim,  or  to  find  both 

Or  bring  your  latter  hazard  back  again 

And  thankfully  rest  debtor  for  the  first. 

— Ibid.,  I.  i. 

Portia.  If  to  do  were  as  easy  as  to  know  what  were 
good  to  do,  chapels  had  been  churches  and  poor  men's 
cottages  princes'  palaces.  It  is  a  good  divine  that  fol- 
lows his  own  instructions:  I  can  easier  teach  twenty 
what  were  good  to  be  done,  than  be  one  of  the  twenty 
to  follow  mine  own  teaching.  The  brain  may  devise  laws 
for  the  blood,  but  a  hot  temper  leaps  o'er  a  cold  decree: 
such  a  hare  is  madness  the  youth,  to  skip  o'er  the  meshes 
of  good  counsel  the  cripple.  But  this  reasoning  is  not 
in  the  fashion  to  choose  me  a  husband.  O  me,  the  word 
"choose" !  I  may  neither  choose  whom  I  would  nor 
refuse  whom  I  dislike ;  so  is  the  will  of  a  living  daughter 
curbed  by  the  will  of  a  dead  father.  Is  it  not  hard. 
Ncrissa,  that  I  cannot  choose  one  nor  refuse  none? — 
Ibid.,  I.  ii. 

Portia.  for  my  own  part, 

T  have  toward  heaven  breathed  a  secret  vow 

To  live  in  prayer  and  contemplation. 

Only  attended  by  Nerissa  here, 

Until  her  husband  and  my  lord's  return. 

— Ibid.,  III.  iv. 


46      INTEKPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Portia.     The  crow  doth  sing  as  sweetly  as  the  lark 
When  neither  is  attended,  and  I  think 
The  nightingale,  if  she  should  sing  by  day, 
When  every  goose  is  cackling,  would  be  thought 
No  better  a  musician  than  the  wren. 
How  many  things  by  season  season'd  are 
To  their  right  praise  and  true  perfection! 

— Ibid.,  V,  i. 

Marullus.     Wherefore  rejoice?     What  conquest  brings 

he  home? 

What  tributaries  follow  him  to  Rome, 
To  grace  in  captive  bonds  his  chariot  wheels? 
You  blocks,  you  stones,  you  worse  than  senseless  things ! 
O  you  hard  hearts,  you  cruel  men  of  Rome, 
Knew  you  not  Pompey?     Many  a  time  and  oft 
Have  you  climb'd  up  to  walls  and  battlements, 
To  towers  and  windows,  yea,  to  chimney-tops, 
Your  infants  in  your  arms,  and  there  have  sat 
The  livelong  day,  with  patient  expectation, 
To  see  great  Pompey  pass  the  streets  of  Rome: 
And  when  you  saw  his  chariot  but  appear, 
Have  you  not  made  an  universal  shout, 
That  Tiber  trembled  underneath  her  banks, 
To  hear  the  replication  of  your  sounds 
Made  in  her  concave  shores? 
And  do  you  now  put  on  your  best  attire? 
And  do  you  now  cull  out  a  holiday? 
And  do  you  now  strew  flowers  in  his  way 
That  comes  in  triumph  over  Pompey's  blood  ? 
Begone ! 

Run  to  your  houses,  fall  upon  your  knees, 
Pray  to  the  gods  to  intermit  the  plague 
That  needs  must  light  on  this  ingratitude. 

— Julius  Caesar,  I,  i. 


GROUPING  47 

Cassius.     I  know  that  virtue  to  be  in  you,  Brutus, 

As  well  as  I  do  know  your  outward  favor. 

Well,  honor  is  the  subject  of  my  story. 

I  cannot  tell  what  you  and  other  men 

Think  of  this  life;  but,  for  my  single  self, 

I  had  as  lief  not  be  as  live  to  be 

In  awe  of  such  a  thing  as  I  myself. 

— Ibid.,  I,  ii. 

Cassius.     I  know  where  I  will  wear  this  dagger  then; 
Cassius  from  bondage  will  deliver  Cassius. 

— Ibid.,  I,  iii. 

Caesar.    What  say  the  augurers? 

Servant.     They  would  not  have  you  to  stir  forth  today. 

Plucking  the  entrails  of  an  offering  forth, 

They  could  not  find  a  heart  within  the  beast. 

Caesar.     The  gods  do  this  in  shame  of  cowardice; 

Caesar  would  be  a  beast  without  a  heart, 

If  he  should  stay  at  home  today  for  fear. 

No,  Caesar  shall  not:  danger  knows  full  well 

That  Caesar  is  more  dangerous  than  he: 

We  are  two  lions  litter'd  in  one  day, 

And  I  the  elder  and  more  terrible: 

And  Caesar  shall  go  forth. 

— Ibid.,  II,  ii. 

Ligarius.  What's  to  do? 

Brutus.    A  piece  of  work  that  will  make  sick  men  whole. 
Ligarius.     But  are  not  some  whole  that  we  must  make 
sick?  —  Ibid.,  II,  ii. 

Brutus.     Our  hearts  you  see  not;  they  are  pitiful; 
And  pity  to  the  general  wrong  of  Rome — 
As  fire  drives  out  fire,  so  pity  pity — 
Hath  done  this  deed  on  Caesar. 

—Ibid.,  Ill,  i. 


48      INTEEPKETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

We  have  taken  our  first  step  in  reading.  What 
have  you  learned?  What  have  you  gained?  Do  you 
think  you  can  ever  go  back  to  those  loose,  careless 
habits  that  marked  your  reading  in  the  past?  And, 
more  interesting  than  anything  else,  the  process  we 
have  discovered  is  after  all  not  artificial  but  merely  a 
natural  process  that  we  have  been  neglecting. 

But  why,  then,  if  grouping  is  natural  and  not  me- 
chanical, is  there  need  to  call  the  student's  attention 
to  it?  Because  most  of  us  have  become  so  familiar 
with  type,  and  so  careless  in  our  reading,  that  we  rush 
on,  getting  from  the  text  sometimes  no  meaning, 
sometimes  but  part  of  it,  and  frequently  the  wrong 
meaning.  Nothing  will  do  more  to  correct  bad  habits 
of  reading  than  careful  grouping.  Even  though  this 
process  seems  at  first  to  be  mechanical,  we  soon  find 
that  it  is  not  so:  it  merely  emphasizes  very  strikingly 
a  habit  to  which  we  have  become  so  accustomed  in  our 
careful  reading  that  we  are  unconscious  of  it. 

At  the  beginning  the  grouping  process  seems  to  be 
unnecessarily  slow.  It  is  so  easy  to  read  a  page  a 
minute  that  it  looks  like  a  great  waste  of  time  to  go 
slowly,  group  by  group;  but  there  is  no  other  way 
to  master  the  content  of  the  printed  page.  An  author 
can  give  you  his  thought  or  picture  only  through 
groups,  and  these  groups,  long  or  short,  must  be 
gathered  together  and  built  up  again  into  the  ideas 
and  pictures  he  had  in  mind. 

And  in  time,  so  expert  does  the  careful  grouper 
become,  that  he  reads  more  and  more  rapidly  and  gets 
more  from  the  printed  page  at  a  first  reading  than 
many  untrained  readers  get  in  a  great  many. 


CHAPTER  II 

GROUP  SEQUENCE 
Read  aloud  the  following  sentences : 

1.  They  were  talking  very  merrily   about  the  Gen- 
eral and  Hugh  and  their  friend  Mills. 

2.  They  were  talking  very  merrily  about  the  General 
and  Hugh  and  their  friend  Mills,  and  were  discussing 
some  romantic  plan  for  the  recapture  of  their  horses. 

3.  They  were  talking  very  merrily  about  the  General 
and  Hugh  and  their  friend  Mills,  and  were  discussing 
some  romantic  plan   for  the  recapture  of  their  horses 
from  the  enemy. 

4.  They  were  talking  very  merrily  about  the  General 
and  Hugh  and  their  friend  Mills,  and  were  discussing 
some   romantic  plan  for  the  recapture  of  their  horses 
from  the  enemy,  when  they  came  out  of  the  path  into  a 
road. 

5.  They  were  talking  very  merrily  about  the  General 
and  Hugh  and  their  friend  Mills,  and  were  discussing 
some  romantic  plan   for  the  recapture  of  their  horses 
from  the  enemy,  when  they  came  out  of  the  path  into  a 
road,  and   found  themselves  within  twenty  yards  of  a 
group  of  Federal  soldiers. 

6.  They  were  talking  very  merrily  about  the  General 
and  Hugh  and  their  friend  Mills,  and  were  discussing 
some  romantic  plan   for  the  recapture  of  their  horses 
from  the  enemy,  when  they  came  out  of  the  path  into  a 
road,  and   found  themselves  within  twenty  yards  of  a 
group  of  Federal  soldiers,  quietly  sitting  on  their  horses. 

49 


50      INTEEPBETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

7.  They  were  talking  very  merrily  about  the  General 
and  Hugh  and  their  friend  Mills,  and  were  discussing 
some  romantic  plan  for  the  recapture  of  their  horses 
from  the  enemy,  when  they  came  out  of  the  path  into  a 
road,  and  found  themselves  within  twenty  yards  of  a 
group  of  Federal  soldiers,  quietly  sitting  on  their  horses, 
evidently  guarding  the  road. 

You  observe,  sentence  1  presents  a  complete  idea, 
but  in  every  succeeding  sentence  something  is  added, 
something  of  great  importance,  without  which  we 
should  not  get  the  full  meaning.  Each  sentence  stand- 
ing alone  makes  complete  sense,  and  yet  sentence  1 
when  repeated  in  2  is  not  complete  without  the  added 
idea  of  2.  The  same  principle  applies  in  3,  where  two 
ideas  are  added  to  the  first  sentence,  and  one  to  the 
second ;  and  so  on  to  the  end.  Hence,  in  reading  the 
last  sentence  the  mind  keeps  looking  on  from  group  to 
group,  until  the  entire  story  is  finished.  In  other 
words,  our  minds  continually  reach  forward  for  the 
complete  thought — for  what  the  author  wanted  us  to 
see.  Briefly,  he  saw  some  people  who,  while  talking 
and  discussing  a  plan,  came  to  a  road  and  found  them- 
selves near  soldiers,  sitting  on  their  horses,  guarding 
the  road. 

You  have  not  found  this  illustration  difficult  to 
understand;  but  you  have  learned  from  it  an  impor- 
tant principle:  Group  Sequence. 

Long  years  of  careless  reading  have  resulted  in 
what  we  may  call  mental  laziness.  We  read  along  (we 
are  speaking  now  of  silent  reading),  getting  an  idea 
here  and  an  idea  there,  but  making  no  conscious  effort 


GEOUP  SEQUENCE  51 

to  get  the  complete  idea.  And  this  explains  why  in 
reading  aloud  we  so  frequently  chop  up  our  sentences 
regardless  of  sense,  just  as  the  young  child  learning 
to  read  reads  every  group  as  if  it  were  his  last.  He 
says: 

I  saw  a          and  a  on  the  f 

c  d  s  i 

a  o  t  g 

t  g  r  h 

e  t 

e  i 

t  n 

g; 

but  when  he  gets  the  whole  thought  he  reads : 

f 
t       i 

e  g 

e  h 

t  g  r  t 

a  o  t  i 

c  d  s  n 

I  saw  a  and  a  on  the  g. 

Now  with  this  principle  in  mind,  read  aloud  sentence 
7  in  such  a  way  that  the  listener  will  be  virtually  com- 
pelled to  keep  looking  forward  to  the  end. 

Again  we  have  used  a  very  simple  example  to  illus- 
trate an  important  principle;  now  we  will  study  a 
more  difficult  selection : 

The  mother  hen's  cluck,  when  the  chicken  happened 
to  be  hidden  in  the  long  grass  or  under  the  squash- 
leaves;  her  gentle  croak  of  satisfaction,  while  sure  of  it 
beneath  her  wing;  her  note  of  ill-concealed  fear  and 


52       INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  FAGE 

obstreperous  defiance,  when  she  saw  her  arch-enemy,  a 
neighbor's  cat,  on  top  of  the  high  fence; — one  or  other 
of  these  sounds  was  to  be  heard  at  almost  every  moment 
of  the  day.— HAWTHORNE  :  The  House  of  the  Seven 
Gables. 

As  you  read  this  silently  you  find  yourself  constantly 
looking  forward  for  the  assertion — for  the  word  that 
describes  the  action — for  the  verb.  When  you  read 
aloud  carefully  you  will  keep  the  listener  looking  for- 
ward, waiting  for  the  complete  assertion  or  picture, 
just  as  you  did  when  reading  to  yourself;  so  that  his 
mind,  following  you  closely,  sums  it  up  about  like 
this :  The  mother  hen's  cluck,  etc. ;  her  gentle  croak, 
etc. ;  her  note  of  fear,  etc.,  was  to  be  heard  every 
moment  of  the  day. 

In  poetry  Group  Sequence  is  even  more  interesting 
than  in  prose.  For  instance,  in  the  opening  lines  of 
Longfellow's  Paul  Revere's  Ride  we  have: 

Listen,  my  children,  and  you  shall  hear 

Of  the  midnight  ride  of  Paul  Revere, 

On  the  eighteenth  of  April,  in  Seventy-five. 

Here  is  a  temptation  to  close  the  thought  after  "Re- 
vere" because  the  lines  make  a  complete  statement ; 
but  on  reading  the  next  line  you  find  that  it  expresses 
an  idea  which  must  be  included  with  the  statement  in 
the  first  two,  so  it  is  positively  wrong  to  close  the 
sense  at  "Revere."  Test  it  for  yourself  by  reading  it 
both  ways: 

Listen,  my  children,  and  you  shall  hear 

Of  the  midnight  ride  of  Paul  Revere, 

On  the  eighteenth  of  April,  in  Seventy-five; 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  53 

Apply  this  principle  in  the  next  stanza  from  the  same 
poem: 

He  said  to  his  friend,  "If  the  British  march 
By  land  or  sea  from  the  town  tonight, 
Hang  a  lantern  aloft  in  the  belfry  arch 
Of  the  North  Church  tower  as  a  signal  light, — 
One,  if  by  land,  and  two,  if  by  sea; 
And  I  on  the  opposite  shore  will  be, 
Ready  to  ride  and  spread  the  alarm 
Through  every  Middlesex  village  and  farm, 
For  the  country  to  be  up  and  to  arm." 

Read  aloud  the  passages,  closing  the  sense  whenever 
there  is  a  temptation  to  do  so ;  and  then  read  them 
correctly,  noting  the  difference  in  the  two  readings. 
There  are  many  catches  in  this  excerpt.  The  care- 
less reader,  ignoring  the  fact  that  there  is  no  punc- 
ttiation  after  "arch,"  closes  his  statement  at  that 
point;  but  us  he  reads  on  he  discovers  that  he  needs 
the  entire  following  line  for  its  completion.  Then  he 
continues  at  the  sixth  line  and  closes  the  statement 
at  "be,"  until,  on  reading  the  next  line,  he  finds  that 
it  is  closely  connected  with  the  preceding ;  and  if  he 
is  not  very  careful  he  will  find  himself  slipping  in  a 
similar  way  at  "alarm,"  and  "farm." 

We'  have  a  very  instructive  example  in  these  lines 
from  Tennyson's  Lancelot  and  Elaine.  The  fair 
Elaine  is  dead,  and  is  being  borne  on  her  bier  by  two 
brothers  to  the  barge  that  is  to  carry  her  body  to 
Camelot.  How  beautiful  is  the  effect  of  the  sus- 
pended sense!  Even  in  "Sister,  farewell  for  ever" 
and  "Farewell,  sweet  sister"  (where  there  is  great 


54      1NTEEPBETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

temptation  to  read  the  lines  as  the  brothers  would  have 
said  them — as  finished  speeches),  Tennyson's  purpose 
is  not  to  emphasize  them  (the  very  structure  shows 
that)  but  to  include  them  merely  as  a  detail  among 
many  others. 

So  those  two  brethren  from  the  chariot  took 
And  on  the  black  decks  laid  her  in  her  bed, 
Set  in  her  hand  a  lily,  o'er  her  hung 
The  silken  case  with  braided  blazonings, 
And  kiss'd  her  quiet  brows,  and  saying  to  her 
"Sister,  farewell  for  ever,"  and  again 
"Farewell,  sweet  sister,"  parted  all  in  tears. 

From  this  study  we  should  learn  to  be  on  our  guard 
against  closing  the  sense  at  the  end  of  a  line,  particu- 
larly in  poetry.  While  we  do  not  look  to  the  punc- 
tuation mark  to  indicate  the  complete  sense,  neverthe- 
less the  absence  of  a  mark  of  punctuation  should  in- 
stantly stimulate  us  to  throw  the  eye  and  mind  for- 
ward, for  surely  the  sense  cannot  be  complete  when 
there  is  no  punctuation  mark.  But  whether  there  is  a 
punctuation  mark  (comma  and  semicolon  particu- 
larly) or  not,  we  must  train  the  mind  to  look  forward 
at  the  end  of  a  line,  in  order  to  be  certain  that  we  do 
not  miss  the  meaning. 

Here  are  some  good  examples  of  poetic  lines  at  the 
end  of  which  the  sense  seems  to  be  complete,  but  where 
(as  in  some  of  the  lines  we  studied  in  Paul  Revere) 
the  absence  of  marks  of  punctuation  should  suggest 
at  once  to  the  student  that  he  must  go  on  to  the  next 
line  for  the  complete  idea. 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  55 

"Hush  child !     Your  brother  Johnny 

Meant  to  give  you  a  fright." 
"Mother,  he'll  go, — I  tell  you  I  know 

He's  listed  into  the  fight." 

— ALICE  GARY:  The  Young  Soldier. 

Here's  a  hand  to  the  boy  who  has  courage 

To  do  what  he  knows  to  be  right; 
When  he  falls  in  the  way  of  temptation 

He  has  a  hard  battle  to  fight. 

— PHOEBE  GARY:  Our  Heroes. 

And  soon  that  toil  shall  end; 

Soon  shalt  thou  find  a  home,  and  rest 

And  scream  among  thy  fellows. 

— BRYANT:  To  a  Waterfowl. 

(Here  a  careless  reader  will,  on  a  first  reading,  make 
"rest"  a  noun.) 

The  castle  alone  in  the  landscape  lay 
Like  an  outpost  of  winter. 

— LOWELL:  The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal. 

And  here  are  some  passages  where  the  sense  seems 
complete  at  a  comma,  and  yet,  as  in  the  other  excerpts, 
we  don't  get  the  picture  until  we  read  on. 

Sometimes  a  troop  of  damsels  glad, 
An  abbot  on  an  ambling  pad, 
Sometimes  a  curly  shepherd-lad, 
Or  long-hair'd  page  in  crimson  clad, 
Goes  by  to  tower'd  Camelot. 

—TENNYSON  :    The  Lady  of  Shalott. 

'Mid  shouts  that  hailed  her  from  the  shore 
And  bade  her  speed,  the  bark  is  gone, 
The  dreary  ocean  to  explore 
Whose  waters  sweep  the  frigid  zone; — 


56       INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

And  bounding  on  before  the  gale 

To  bright  eyes  shining  through  their  tears 

'Twixt  sea  and  sky,  her  snowy  sail 

A   lessening   spark   appears. 

— JOHN  MALCOLM:  The  Northwester. 

Long  ago, 

In  the  deer-haunted  forests  of  Maine, 
When  upon  mountain  and  plain 
Lay  the  snow, 

They  fell, — those  lordly  pines! 
Those  grand,  maj  estic  pines ! 
'Mid  shouts  and  cheers 
The  jaded  steers, 
Panting  beneath  the  goad, 
Dragged  down  the  weary,  winding  road 
Those  captive  Kings  so  straight  and  tall, 
To  be  shorn  of  their  streaming  hair, 
And,  naked  and  bare, 
To  feel  the  stress  and  the  strain 
Of  the  wind  and  the  reeling  main. 
Whose  roar 

Would  remind  them  for  evermore 
Of  their  native  forests  they  should  not  see  again. 
— LONGFELLOW:  The  Building  of  the  Ship. 

Since  semicolons,  colons,  and  exclamation  points 
frequently  indicate  more  or  less  complete  sense  (which 
manifests  itself  in  a  falling  inflection),  the  following 
passages  are  inserted  to  show  the  student  that  he  can- 
not rely  mechanically  on  the  punctuation  marks  as  a 
guide  to  vocal  expression. 

As,   when   the   air   is   serene   in   the    sultry    solstice    of 

summer, 
Suddenly  gathers  a  storm,  and  the  deadly  sling  of  the 

hailstones 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  57 

Beats  down  the  farmer's  corn  in  the  field  and  shatters 
his  windows, 

Hiding  the  sun,  and  strewing  the  ground  with  thatch 
from  the  house  roofs, 

Bellowing  fly  the  herds,  and   seek  to  break  their  en- 
closures ; 

So  on  the  hearts  of  the  people  descended  the  words  of 
the  speaker. 

— LONGFELLOW  :   Evangeline. 

From  doubt,  where  all  is  double: 

Where  wise  men  are  not  strong: 

Where  comfort  turns  to  trouble: 

Where  just  men  suffer  wrong: 

Where  sorrow  treads  on  joy: 

Where  sweet  things  soonest  cloy: 

Where  faiths  are  built  on  dust: 

Where  love  is  half  mistrust, 

Hungry,  and  barren,  and  sharp  as  the  sea: 

Oh,  set  us  free. 

Green  little  vaulter  in  the  sunny  grass, 

Catching  your  heart  up  at  the  feel  of  June, 

Sole  voice  that's  heard  amidst  the  lazy  noon, 

When  even  the  bees  lag  at  the  summoning  brass ; 

And  you,  warm  little  housekeeper,  who  class 

With  those  who  think  the  candles  come  too  soon, 

Loving  the  fire,  and  with  your  tricksome  tune 

Nick  the  glad,  silent  moments  as  they  pass ; 

O  sweet  and  tiny  cousins,  that  belong 

One  to  the  fields,  the  other  to  the  hearth, 

Both  have  your  sunshine;  both,  though  small,  are  strong 

At  your  clear  hearts ;  and  both  seem  given  to  earth 

To  ring  in  thoughtful  ears  this  natural  song — 

In  doors  and  out,  summer  and  winter,  Mirth. 

— HUNT:  To  fhe  Grasshopper  and  the  Cricket. 


58      INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Ye  Stars,  which,  though  unseen,  yet  with  me  gaze 
Upon  this  loveliest  fragment  of  the  earth ! 
Thou  Sun,  that  kindlest  all  thy  gentlest  rays 
Above  it,  as  to  light  a  favorite  hearth ! 
Ye  Clouds,  that  in  your  temples  in  the  west 
See  nothing  brighter  than  its  humblest  flowers! 
And  you,  ye  Winds,  that  on  the  ocean's  breast 
Are  kissed  to  coolness  ere  ye  reach  its  bowers ! 
Bear  witness  with  me  in  my  song  of  praise. 
And  tell  the  world  that,  since  the  world  began, 
No  fairer  land  hath  fired  a  poet's  lays, 
Or  given  a  home  to  man! 

— TIMROD  :  The  Cotton  Boll. 

(Here  the  exclamation  points  suggest  emotion,  but  do 
not  indicate  that  the  sense  is  complete. ) 

In  similes  we  find  large  opportunity  to  apply  our 
knowledge  of  Sequence.  Generally  similes  begin  with 
an  "as"  clause,  and  end  with  a  "so"  clause.  When 
they  are  long  it  is  helpful  to  bear  this  fact  in  mind, 
otherwise  one  is  likely  to  become  confused.  You  must 
never  forget,  then,  that  a  simile  has  two  parts  and  is 
never  complete  until  you  get  both. 

And  as  a  hungry  lion  who  has  made 
A  prey  of  some  large  beast — a  horned  stag 
Or  mountain  goat — rejoices,  and  with  speed 
Devours  it,  though  swift  hounds  and  sturdy  youths 
Press  on  his  flank,  so  Menelaus  felt 
Great  joy  when  Paris,  of  the  godlike  form, 
Appeared  in  sight,  for  now  he  thought  to  wreak 
His  vengeance  on  the  guilty  one,  and  straight 
Sprang  from  his  car  to  earth  with  all  his  arms. 
—The  Iliad  (Bryant's  translation). 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  59 

As  on  a  herd  of  beeves  a  lion  springs 

While  midst  the  shrubs  they  browse,  and  breaks  their 

necks, — 

Heifer  or  ox, — so  sprang  he  on  the  twain 
And  struck  them,  vainly  struggling,  from  their  car, 
And  spoiled  them  of  their  arms,  and  took  their  steeds, 
And  bade  his  comrades  lead  them  to  the  fleet. 

— Ibid. 

As  a  lion  who  has  leaped 
Into  a  fold — and  he  who  guards  the  flock 
Has  wounded  but  not  slain  him — feels  his  rage 
Waked  by  the  blow; — the  affrighted  shepherd  then 
Ventures  not  near,  but  hides  within  the  stalls, 
And  the  forsaken  sheep  are  put  to  flight, 
And,  huddling,  slain  in  heaps,  till  o'er  the  fence 
The  savage  bounds  into  the  fields  again; — 
Such  was  Tydides  midst  the  sons  of  Troy. 

— Ibid. 

And  as  when  some  courser,  fed 
With  barley  in  the  stall,  and  wont  to  bathe 
In  some  smooth-flowing  river,  having  snapped 
His  halter,  gayly  scampers  o'er  the  plain, 
And  in  the  pride  of  beauty  bears  aloft 
His  head,  and  gives  his  tossing  mane  to  stream 
Upon  his  shoulders,  while  his  flying  feet 
Bear  him  to  where  the  mares  are  wont  to  graze, — 
So  came  the  son  of  Priam — Paris — down 
From  lofty  Pergamus  in  glittering  arms, 
And,  glorious  as  the  sun,  held  on  his  way 
Exulting  and  with  rapid  feet. 

— Ibid. 

But  as  a  troop  of  peddlers  from  Cabool, 
Cross  underneath  the  Indian  Caucasus, 
The  vast  sky-neighboring  mountain  of  milk  snow ; 
Crossing  so  high,  that,  as  they  mount,  they  pass 


60      INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Long  flocks  of  traveling  birds  dead  on  the  snow, 
Slake  their  parch'd  throats   with  sugar'd  mulber- 
ries— 

In  single  file  they  move  and  stop  their  breath, 
For    fear    they    should    dislodge    the    o'erhanging 

snows — 

So  the  pale  Persians  held  their  breath  with  fear. 
— ARNOLD:    Sohrab  and  Rustum. 

And  dear  as  the  wet  diver  to  the  eyes 
Of  his  pale  wife  who  waits  and  weeps  on  shore, 
By  sandy  Bahrein,  in  the  Persian  Gulf, 
Plunging  all  day  in  the  blue  waves,  at  night, 
Having  made  up  his  tale  of  precious  pearls, 
Rejoins  her  in  their  hut  upon  the  sands — 
So  dear  to  the  pale  Persians  Rustum  came. 

— Ibid. 

And  as  afield  the  reapers  cut  a  swath 
Down  through  the  middle  of  a  rich  man's  corn, 
And  on  each  side  are  squares  of  standing  corn, 
And  in  the  midst  a  stubble,  short  and  bare — 
So  on  each  side  were  squares  of  men,  with  spears 
Bristling,  and  in  the  midst,  the  open  sand. 
And  Rustum  came  upon  the  sand,  and  cast 
His  eyes  toward  the  Tartar  tents,  and  saw 
Sohrab  come  forth,  and  eyed  him  as  he  came. 

As  some  rich  woman,  on  a  winter's  morn, 
Eyes  through  her  silken  curtains  the  poor  drudge 
Who  with  numb  blacken'd  fingers  makes  her  fire — 
At  cock-crow,  on  a  starlit  winter's  morn, 
When  the  frost  flowers  the  whiten'd  windowpanes — 
And  wonders  how  she  lives,  and  what  the  thoughts 
Of  that  poor  drudge  may  be;  so  Rustum  eyed 
The  unknown  adventurous  youth,  who  from  afar 
Came  seeking  Rustum,  and  defying  forth 
All  the  most  valiant  chiefs. 

— Ibid. 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  61 

And  he  saw  that  youth, 
Of  age  and  looks  to  be  his  own  dear  son, 
Piteous  and  lovely,  lying  on  the  sand, 
Like  some  rich  hyacinth  which  by  the  scythe 
Of  an  unskillful  gardener  has  been  cut, 
Mowing  the  garden  grassplots  near  its  bed, 
And  lies,  a  fragrant  tower  of  purple  bloom, 
On  the  mown,  dying  grass — so  Sohrab  lay, 
Lovely  in  death,  upon  the  common  sand. 

— Ibid. 

(Considerable  care  will  be  necessary  in  reading  the 
last  extract  aloud.  You  must  make  the  listener 
understand,  beyond  any  possibility  of  missing  it, 
that  it  is  the  lion  that  feels;  that  after  "blow"  the 
mind  supplies  "and";  and  before  "slain,"  "are.") 

Easy  to  understand  as  is  the  principle  of  Group 
Sequence,  it  has  taught  us  a  most  important  lesson : 
and  that  is  that  groups  combine  in  large  and  larger 
groups  and  series  until  thought  or  picture  is  complete. 
The  inattentive  student  reads  more  or  less  choppily,  as 
was  pointed  out  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  and 
if  the  sentence  is  of  considerable  length  he  forgets  the 
beginning  of  it  before  he  gets  to  the  end;  and  when 
he  reads  aloud,  this  choppiness  manifests  itself  in  fall- 
ing inflections  at  the  end  of  almost  every  group. 
And  the  worst  of  it  is  not  merely  that  the  vocal 
expression  is  faulty  and  the  listener  confused,  but 
that  the  poor  reading  is  a  sure  sign  of  the  reader's 
failure  to  grasp  the  meaning. 

At  this  point,  however,  the  student  must  be  warned 
that  while  the  thought  is  often  incomplete  at  a  comma, 
a  semicolon,  or  even  at  a  colon,  it  does  not  follow  that 


62      INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

it  may  not  be  complete  at  such  points.  Each  case 
must  be  decided  for  itself  and,  fortunately,  the  deci- 
sion is  not  hard  to  make.  We  found  that  punctuation 
does  not  necessarily  determine  grouping,  and  here, 
again,  we  learn  that  it  does  not  necessarily  determine 
continuity,  or  Group  Sequence.  Let  me  illustrate.  A 
parent  gives  his  child  a  lot  of  presents  on  Christmas 
Day,  and  speaking  of  them  says:  "I  gave  my  child 
picture  books,  candies,  a  hobby  horse,  a  drum,  and  a 
gun" ;  while  the  child,  with  great  interest  in  each  one 
of  the  separate  gifts,  thinks  of  them  one  at  a  time. 
Now  what  will  be  the  difference  ( apart  from  the  feel- 
ing) in  the  way  the  father  and  the  child  enumerate 
the  gifts?  Does  not  the  father  regard  all  gifts  as 
one  gift:  and  does  not  the  child  regard  each  gift  by 
itself?  Read  the  list  of  presents  as  the  father  would, 
and  then  as  the  child  (the  child  beginning  his 
enumeration  with  "I  got"),  and  note  the  difference. 
And  yet,  so  far  as  the  punctuation  is  concerned,  the 
speeches  would  be  printed  exactly  alike. 

This  same  principle  is  beautifully  exemplified  in  a 
little  poem.  Two  young  women  have  returned  from 
a  holiday  in  the  country,  and  they  are  asked  what  they 
have  seen. 

The  one  with  yawning  made  reply: 
"What  have  we  seen? — Not  much  have  I! 
Trees,  meadows,  mountains,  groves,  and  streams, 
Blue  sky  and  clouds,  and  sunny  gleams." 
The  other,  smiling,  said  the  same; 
But  with  face  transfigured  and  eye  of  flame: 
"Trees,  meadows,  mountains,  groves,  and  streams ! 
Blue  sky  and  clouds,  and  sunny  gleams." 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  63 

The  first  girl  saw  several  things,  no  one  of  which  held 
her  attention,  so  that  in  her  reply  she  threw  them  all 
together;  while  to  the  other  girl  each  aspect  of  the 
picture  was  so  important  that  for  the  moment  it  held 
her  attention  to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else.  It 
was  as  if  she  were  saying  "I  saw  grand  old  trees.  I 
saw  beautilul  meadows.  I  saw  majestic  mountains," 
etc.  So  again  you  see  that  the  commas  are  used  for 
grammatical  purposes  only.  When  you  get  the  mean- 
ing (again,  just  as  in  Grouping)  you  pay  no  further 
attention  to  the  punctuation. 

EXEECISES 

He  had  completely  lost  his  voice  the  following  win- 
ter, and  had  ever  since  been  little  better  than  a  cracked 
fiddle,  which  is  good  for  nothing  but  firewood. — ELIOT: 
Mr.  Gilfil's  Love-Story. 

Then,  just  after  their  third  child  was  born,  fever 
came,  swept  away  the  sickly  mother  and  the  two  eldest 
children,  and  attacked  Sarti  himself,  who  rose  from 
his  sick-bed  with  enfeebled  brain  and  muscle,  and  a 
tiny  baby  on  his  hands,  scarcely  four  months  old. — Ibid. 

Even  Mrs.  Sharp  had  been  so  smitten  with  pity  by 
the  scene  she  had  witnessed,  as  to  shed  a  small  tear, 
though  she  was  not  at  all  subject  to  that  weakness; 
indeed,  she  abstained  from  it  on  principle,  because,  as 
she  often  said,  it  was  known  to  be  the  worst  thing  in 
the  world  for  the  eyes. — Ibid. 

He  had  only  a  hundred  seamen  to  work  the  ship  and 

to  fight, 
And  he  sailed  away  from  Flores  till  the  Spaniard  came 

in  sight, 


64      INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

With  his  huge  sea-castles  heaving  upon  the  weather  bow. 

"Shall  we  fight  or  shall  we  fly? 

Good  Sir  Richard,  tell  us  now, 

For  to  fight  is  but  to  die ! 

There'll  be  little  of  us  left  by  the  time  this  sun  be  set." 

And  Sir  Richard  said  again:     "We  be  all  good  English 

men. 
Let  us  bang  these  dogs  of  Seville,  the  children  of  the 

devil, 

For  I  never  turn'd  my  back  upon  Don  or  devil  yet." 
— TENNYSON:     The  Revenge. 

Sir  Richard  spoke  and  he  laugh'd,  and  we  roar'd  a  hur- 
rah, and  so 

The  little  Revenge  ran  on  sheer  into  the  heart  of  the  foe, 
With  her  hundred  fighters  on  deck,  and  her  ninety  sick 
below. 

— Ibid. 

And  the  rest  they  came  aboard  us,  and  they  fought  us 

hand  to  hand, 
For  a  dozen  times  they  came  with  their  pikes  and  mus- 

queteers, 
And   a  dozen  times   we   shook   'em  off   as   a   dog  that 

shakes  his  ears 
When  he  leaps  from  the  water  to  the  land. 

— Ibid. 

The  next  illustration  is  from  The  Merchant  of 
Venice,  where  Shy  lock  gives  his  reasons  for  hating 
Antonio : 

Salarino.  Why,  I  am  sure,  if  he  forfeit,  thou  wilt 
not  take  his  flesh:  what's  that  good  for? 

Shylock.  To  bait  fish  withal:  if  it  will  feed  nothing 
else,  it  will  feed  my  revenge.  He  hath  disgraced  me, 
and  hindered  me  half  a  million;  laughed  at  my  losses, 


GEOUP  SEQUENCE  65 

mocked  at  my  gains,  scorned  my  nation,  thwarted  my 
bargains,  cooled  my  friends,  heated  mine  enemies;  and 
what's  his  reason?  I  am  a  Jew. 

Now,  if  you  were  running  over  these  reasons  rapidly, 
you  would  say  that  Shylock  hated  Antonio  because 
Antonio  had  laughed  at  his  losses,  mocked  at  his  gains, 
scorned  his  nation,  thwarted  his  bargains,  cooled  his 
friends,  heated  his  enemies — merely  enumerating  the 
causes.  But  to  Shylock  each  offense  in  itself  was 
enough  to  justify  revenge.  It  makes  no  difference 
how  rapidly  his  passion  would  hurry  him  along;  each 
point  in  his  charge  against  Antonio  is  complete  in 
itself.  Perhaps  Shylock's  mental  attitude  will  be 
made  clearer  by  printing  his  speech  thus : 

I  hate  him  because  he  laughed  at  my  losses.  I  hate 
him  because  he  mocked  at  my  gains.  I  hate  him  be- 
cause he  scorned  my  nation.  I  hate  him  because  he 
thwarted  my  bargains.  I  hate  him  because  he  cooled 
my  friends.  I  hate  him  because  he  heated  mine  enemies. 

It  is  possible  to  conceive  of  this  sentence  being  made 
up  of  a  series  of  contrasts  equivalent  to 

He  laughed  at  my  losses  and  mocked  at  my  gains; 
scorned  my  nation  and  thwarted  my  bargains ;  cooled 
my  friends  and  heated  mine  enemies; 

but  I  don't  think  that  this  is  as  good  an  interpretation 
as  the  former.  In  any  case  there  is  closure  at 
"gains"  and  at  "bargains" ;  and  if  you  see  that,  you 
have  learned  the  lesson  I  wanted  to  teach  you. 

I  take  a  final  example  from  Shakespeare's  Henry  V. 
The  King  is  urging  his  soldiers  on  to  a  final  assault 


66      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

against  the  walls  of  Harfleur,  which  have  been  offer- 
ing stout  resistance.  He  says: 

imitate  the  action  of  the  tiger; 
Stiffen  the  sinews,  summon  up  the  blood, 
Disguise  fair  nature  with  hard-favored  rage; 
Then  lend  the  eye  a  terrible  aspect; 
Let  it  pry  through  the  portage  of  the  head 
Like  the  brass  cannon. 

Each  sentence  is  a  complete  assertion,  and  even  the  sec- 
ond line  contains  two  distinct  and  independent  com- 
mands. If,  however,  you  were  telling  someone  in  an 
offhand  way  what  commands  Henry  gave  to  his  sol- 
diers you  would  be  more  than  likely  not  to  consider 
each  group  as  a  finished  command  but  as  a  part  of  one 
idea,  and  would  say  "he  told  them  to  imitate  the  action 
of  the  tiger,  to  stiffen  the  sinews,  to  summon  up  the 
blood,"  etc. 

To  summarize:  We  cannot  lay  down  any  absolute 
rule,  but  the  principle  is  not  difficult  to  understand. 
In  our  silent  reading  we  go  on  and  on  until  the  sense 
is  finished,  and  the  voice,  as  we  read  aloud,  instinc- 
tively responds  to  the  action  of  the  mind;  but  on  the 
other  hand,  the  thought  may  be  complete  at  any  part 
of  the  sentence,  regardless  of  the  punctuation. 


REVIEW  EXERCISES 

Turn  back  to  the  poem  The  Sea  and  you  will  find 
it  offers  many  opportunities  to  test  your  knowledge 
of  Group  Sequence.  In  every  stanza  there  are  deci- 


GEOUP  SEQUENCE  67 

sions  to  be  made;  a  few  of  the  most  important  are 
found  in  the  third  and  fourth  stanzas. 

No  mate,  no  comrade  Lucy  knew; 
She  dwelt  on  a  wide  moor, 
— The  sweetest  thing  that  ever  grew 
Beside  a  human  door ! 

—WORDSWORTH:    Lucy  Gray. 

I  know  it  is  a  sin 
For  me  to  sit  and  grin 

At  him  here; 

But  the  old  three-cornered  hat, 
And  the  breeches,  and  all  that, 

Are  so  queer! 

— HOLMES:    The  Last  Leaf. 

Oh  may  I  join  the  choir  invisible 

Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 

In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence. 

— ELIOT:    The  Choir  Invisible. 

Old  Tubal  Cain  was  a  man  of  might 

In  the  days  when  earth  was  young; 

By  the  fierce  red  light  of  his  furnace  bright 

The  stroke  of  his  hammer  rung; 

And  he  lifted  high  his  brawny  hand 

On  the  iron  glowing  clear, 

Till  the  sparks  rushed  out  in  scarlet  showers 

As  he  fashioned  the  sword  and  spear. 

And  he  sang, — "Hurrah  for  my  handiwork ! 

Hurrah  for  the  Spear  and  Sword ! 

Hurrah  for  the  hand  that  shall  wield  them  well, 

For  he  shall  be  king  and  lord !" 

— MACKAY:    Tubal  Cain. 


68      INTEKPKETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Aeneas,  with  his  shield 

And  his  long  spear,  leaped  down  to  guard  the  slain, 
That  the  Achaians  might  not  drag  him  thence. 
There,  lion-like,  confiding  in  his  strength, 
He  stalked  around  the  corpse,  and  over  it 
Held  his  round  shield  and  lance,  prepared  to  slay 
Whoever  came,  and  shouting  terribly. 

— The  Iliad  (Bryant's  translation). 

When  thoughts 

Of  the  last  bitter  hour  come  like  a  blight 
Over  thy  spirit,  and  sad  images 
Of  the  stern  agony,  and  shroud,  and  pall, 
And  breathless  darkness,  and  the  narrow  house, 
Make  thee  to  shudder  and  grow  sick  at  heart, — 
Go  forth  under  the  open  sky,  and  list 
To  Nature's  teachings. 

— BRYANT  :    Thanatopsis. 

Noiselessly  as  the  daylight  comes,   when  the  night  is 
done, 

And  the  crimson  streak  on  ocean's  cheek  grows  into  the 
great  sun, — 

Noiselessly   as   the    springtime    her    crown   of   verdure 
weaves, 

And  all  the  trees  on  all  the  hills  open  their  thousand 
leaves, — 

So,  without  sound  of  music  or  voice  of  them  that  wept, 

Silently  down  from  the  mountain  crown  the  great  pro- 
cession swept. 
— MRS.  C.  F.  ALEXANDER:    The  Burial  of  Moses. 

For  a  long  while  he  used  to  console  himself,  when 
driven  from  home,  by  frequenting  a  kind  of  perpetual 
club  of  the  sages,  philosophers,  and  other  idle  person- 
ages of  the  village,  which  held  its  sessions  on  a  bench 
before  a  small  inn,  designated  by  a  rubicund  portrait  of 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  69 

his    majesty    George    the    Third. — IRVING:     Rip    Van 
Winkle. 

Rip  was  equally  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the  ques- 
tion; when  a  knowing,  self-important  old  gentleman, 
in  a  sharp  cocked  hat,  made  his  way  through  the  crowd, 
putting  them  to  the  right  and  left  with  his  elbows  as  he 
passed,  and  planting  himself  before  Van  Winkle,  with 
one  arm  akimbo,  the  other  resting  on  his  cane,  his  keen 
eyes  and  sharp  hat  penetrating,  as  it  were,  into  his  very 
soul,  demanded,  in  an  austere  tone,  "what  brought  him 
to  the  election  with  a  gun  on  his  shoulder,  and  a  mob  at 
his  heels,  and  whether  he  meant  to  breed  riot  in  the 
village  ?" — Ibid. 

He  listened  greedily  to  the  thousand  details  of  a 
farmer's  labors,  the  autumn  sowing,  the  winter  work, 
the  splendid  feasts  of  harvest  home  and  vintage,  the 
flails  beating  the  floor,  the  sound  of  the  mills  by  the 
edge  of  the  water,  the  tired  horses  led  to  the  trough, 
the  morning  hunting  in  the  mists,  and  above  all,  the 
long  evenings  around  the  fire,  shortened  by  tales  of 
marvel. — COPPEE:  The  Substitute. 

(Note  the  closure  at  "labors.") 

When  Mrs.  Durgan,  widow  of  the  late  Sir  John  Dur- 
gan,  arrived  in  their  station,  and  after  a  short  time  had 
been  proposed  to  by  every  single  man  at  mess,  she  put 
the  public  sentiment  very  neatly  when  she  explained 
that  they  were  all  so  nice  that  unless  she  could  marry 
them  all,  including  the  colonel  and  some  majors  who 
were  already  married,  she  was  not  going  to  content  her- 
self with  one  of  them. — KIPLING:  The  Man  Who  Was. 

Silas'  hand  satisfied  itself  with  throwing  the  shuttle, 
and  his  eye  with  seeing  the  little  squares  in  the  cloth 
complete  themselves  under  his  effort.  Then  there  were 
the  calls  of  hunger:  and  Silas,  in  his  solitude,  had  to 


70      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

provide  his  own  breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper;  and  all 
these  immediate  promptings  helped,  along  with  the 
weaving,  to  reduce  his  life  to  the  unquestioning  activity 
of  a  spinning  insect.  He  hated  the  thought  of  the  past ; 
there  was  nothing  that  called  out  his  love  and  fellow- 
ship towards  the  strangers  he  had  come  amongst;  and 
the  future  was  all  dark,  for  there  was  no  unseen  Love 
that  cared  for  him. — GEORGE  ELIOT:  Silas  Marner. 

(a.  It  seems  best  to  regard  the  thought  as  incomplete 
at  "past"  and  "amongst."  Why?  6.  How  will  you 
group  "breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper"?) 

They  fought  the  dogs  and  killed  the  cats, 

And  bit  the  babies  in  the  cradles, 

And  ate  the  cheese  out  of  the  vats, 

And  licked  the  soup  from  the  cooks'  own  ladles, 

Split  open  the  kegs  of  salted  sprats, 

Made  nests  inside  men's  Sunday  hats, 

And  even  spoiled  the  women's  chats 

By  drowning  their  speaking 

With  shrieking  and  squeaking 

In  fifty  different  sharps  and  flats. 

And  the  muttering  grew  to  a  grumbling; 
And  the  grumbling  grew  to  a  mighty  rumbling; 
And  out  of  the  houses  the  rats  came  tumbling — 
Great  rats,  small  rats,  lean  rats,  brawny  rats, 
Brown  rats,  black  rats,  lean  rats,  brawny  rats, 
Brothers,  sisters,  husbands,  wives 
Followed  the  Piper  for  their  lives. 

Out  came  the  children  running: 

All  the  little  boys  and  girls, 

With  rosy  cheeks  and  flaxen  curls, 

And  sparkling  eyes  and  teeth  like  pearls, 

Tripping  and  skipping,  ran  merrily  after 

The  wonderful  music  with  shouting  and  laughter. 


GEOUP  SEQUENCE  71 

The  Mayor  was  dumb,  and  the  Council  stood 
As  if  they  were  changed  into  blocks  of  wood, 
Unable  to  move  a  step  or  cry 
To  the  children  merrily  skipping  by — 
And  could  only  follow  with  the  eye 
That  joyous  crowd  at  the  Piper's  back. 
The  Mayor  sent  east,  west,  north,  and  south 
To  offer  the  Piper  by  word  of  mouth, 
Wherever  it  was  man's  lot  to  find  him, 
Silver  and  gold  to  his  heart's  content, 
If  he'd  only  return  the  way  he  went, 
And  bring  the  children  behind  him. 

— BROWNING:  The  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin. 

(Nothing  in  the  text  of  the  first  paragraph  demands 
a  rise  or  a  fall  of  the  voice  at  the  end  of  each  of  the 
first  six  lines.  So  long  as  you  have  a  reason  you  can 
use  either ;  but  after  the  sixth  line  there  is  no  choice. 

I  prefer — though  I  don't  insist  that  you  should — 
to  keep  the  sense  open  at  the  end  of  lines  11  and  12, 
but  I  think  it  is  almost  imperative  to  close  it  at 
"tumbling."  But  what  will  you  do  with  all  the  "rats" 
and,  particularly,  why?  And  suppose  you  decide  to 
close  on  the  "rats,"  be  careful  of  "wives."  Further, 
there  are  interesting  catches  in  many  other  lines,  where 
you  will  have  opportunity  to  test  your  knowledge  of 
closure  at  commas ;  for  instance,  line  24,  at  "dumb" ; 
line  25,  at  "wood." 

But  remember,  finally,  that  while  it  is  all  a  question 
of  interpretation,  there  must  be  a  reason  for  all 
you  do.) 


CHAPTER  III 

GROUP  VALUES 
SUBORDINATION 

Here  on  this  beach  a  hundred  years  ago, 
Three  children  of  three  houses,  Annie  Lee, 
The  prettiest  little  damsel  in  the  port, 
And  Phillip  Ray,  the  miller's  only  son, 
And  Enoch  Arden,  a  rough  sailor's  lad, 
Made  orphan  by  a  winter  shipwreck,  play'd 
Among  the  waste  and  lumber  of  the  shore. 

— TENNYSON:    Enoch  Arden. 

If  we  omit  from  the  above  lines  all  but  the  main 
idea,  the  sentence  reads : 

Here  on  this  beach  a  hundred  years  ago, 
Three  children  of  three  houses     . 

play'd 

Among  the  waste  and  lumber  of  the  shore. 

In  other  words,  the  most  important  features  of  the 
picture  are  the  three  children  playing  on  the  shore. 
Let  us  now  insert  their  names,  and  we  have : 

Here  on  this  beach  a  hundred  years  ago, 
Three  children  of  three  houses,  Annie  Lee, 

And  Phillip  Ray, 

And  Enoch  Arden, 

play'd 

Among  the  waste  and  lumber  of  the  shore. 

72 


GEOUP  VALUES:     SUBOBD1NATION  73 

You  observe  that  the  names  "Annie  Lee,"  "Phillip 
Ray,"  and  "Enoch  Arden"  are  explanatory  of  the 
group  "three  children  of  three  houses."  They  are, 
therefore,  subordinate  to  the  main  idea ;  they  are  for 
the  moment  of  secondary  value.  The  author,  after 
giving  us  the  names  of  each  of  the  children,  adds 
another  subordinate  group  of  explanation:  Annie 
Lee  is  the  prettiest  little  damsel  in  the  port;  Phillip 
Ray  is  the  miller's  only  son ;  and  Enoch  Arden  is  the 
rough  sailor's  lad,  made  orphan  by  a  winter's  ship- 
wreck. Here,  then,  are  groups  of  three  distinct 
values,  or  degrees  of  importance.  The  most  impor- 
tant is  the  statement  that  a  hundred  years  ago  three 
children  played  on  the  shore;  the  next  important 
group  gives  the  name  of  each  child;  and  the  least 
important  gives  the  description  of  ^ach  child.  The 
entire  sentence  might  be  printed  as  on  p.  74. 

If  all  sentences  were  printed  as  we  have  printed  the 
one  from  Enoch  Arden  we  should  have  little  trouble 
with  subordinate  values ;  but  since  they  are  not,  we 
must  train  ourselves  to  recognize  different  degrees  of 
thought  values  as  they  appear  in  the  ordinary  way  in 
type.  All  type  looks  alike,  one  might  say ;  the  most 
important  word  or  group  has  no  greater  prominence 
than  the  least  necessary ;  and  for  this  reason  we  must 
be  the  more  careful  in  studying  the  printed  page. 

What  adds  to  the  difficulty  is  that  the  sentence  be- 
comes longer  as  subordinate  groups  are  added,  and  the 
strain  of  concentration  becomes  greater  and  greater 
as  (1)  the  subordinate  group  gets  longer;  or  as  (£) 
there  is  more  than  one  successive  subordinate  group ; 


74      INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 


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GEOUP  VALUES:  SUBORDINATION      75 

or  as  (3)  there  are  groups  which  themselves  are 
subordinate  to  other  subordinate  groups. 

In  the  passage  from  Enoch  Arden  were  found  illus- 
trations of  all  three  phases  of  the  problem.  First, 
the  subordinate  main  group,  from  "Annie  Lee"  to 
"sailor's  lad,"  is  very  long;  secondly,  "Annie  Lee," 
"Phillip  Ray,"  and  "Enoch  Arden"  are  subordinate 
to  "children" ;  and,  thirdly,  each  of  these  subordinate 
nouns  is  followed  by  another  subordinate  group. 

Now,  when  it  comes  to  reading  this  sentence  aloud 
you  must  keep  in  mind  continually  the  main  idea  and 
strive  to  make  the  listener  see  it,  and  you  may  be  cer- 
tain the  vocal  expression  will  take  care  of  itself.  All 
our  lives  we  have  been  expressing  subordinate  ideas 
with  little  or  no  thought  of  what  the  voice  was  doing, 
and  if  you  will  get  the  thought,  make  it  your  very 
own,  and  read  it  aloud  as  though  it  were  your  own, 
you  may  be  confident  the  vocal  expression  will  be 
adequate.  Test  this  in  these  fairly  simple  passages: 

Mrs.  Cratchit  left  the  room  alone — too  nervous  to 
bear  witnesses — to  take  the  pudding  up,  and  bring  it 
in. — DICKENS:  A  Christmas  Carol. 

In  half  a  minute  Mrs.  Cratchit  entered — flushed  but 
smiling  proudly — with  the  pudding  like  a  speckled 
cannon  ball,  so  hard  and  so  firm,  and  bedight  with 
Christmas  holly  stuck  into  the  top. — Ibid. 

Alas!  (thought  I,  and  my  heart  beat  loud) 

How  fast  she  nears  and  nears ! 
Are  those  her  sails  that  glance  in  the  Sun, 

Like  restless  gossameres? 

— COLERIDGE:    The  Ancient  Mariner. 


76      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

But  the  deacon  swore,  (as  deacons  do, 
With  an  "I  dew  vum,"  or  an  "I  tell  yeou,") 
He  would  build  one  shay  to  beat  the  taown. 

— HOLMES:    The  One-Hoss  Shay. 

That  story  which  the  bold  Sir  Bedivere, 
First  made  and  latest  left  of  all  the  knights, 
Told,  when  the  man  was  no  more  than  a  voice 
In  the  white  winter  of  his  age,  to  those 
With  whom  he  dwelt,  new  faces,  other  minds. 

—TENNYSON:    The  Passing  of  Arthur. 

Most  noble  lord,  Sir  Lancelot  of  the  Lake, 
I,  sometimes  call'd  the  maid  of  Astolat, 
Come,  for  you  left  me  taking  no  farewell, 
Hither,  to  take  my  last  farewell  of  you. 

— TENNYSON  :    Lancelot  and  Elaine. 

I  would  not  enter  on  my  list  of  friends 

(Though  graced  with  polished  manners  and  fine  sense, 

Yet  wanting  sensibility)  the  man 

Who  needlessly  sets  foot  upon  a  worm. 

— WILLIAM  COWPER:    Humanity. 

The  smoke  of  censers,  where  heaped  ambergris 
And  myrrh  and  sandal-wood  and  cinnamon 
Fragrantly   smouldered,  through  the  languid  air  crept 
upward. 

— ARLO  BATES  :    The  Sorrow  of  Rohab. 

Thus  early  had  that  one  guest — the  only  guest  who  is 
certain,  at  one  time  or  another,  to  find  his  way  into 
every  human  dwelling — thus  early  had  Death  stepped 
across  the  threshold  of  the  House  of  the  Seven  Gables ! — 
HAWTHORNE:  The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables. 

At  the  moment  of  execution — with  the  halter  about 
his  neck  and  while  Col.  Pyncheon  sat  on  horseback 
grimly  gazing  at  the  scene — Maule  had  addressed  him 


GROUP  VALUES:     SUBORDINATION  77 

from  the  scaffold,  and  muttered  a  prophecy,  of  which 
history,  as  well  as  fireside  tradition,  has  preserved  the 
very  words.  "God,"  said  the  dying  man,  pointing  his 
finger,  with  a  ghastly  look,  at  the  undismayed  counte- 
nance of  his  enemy,  "God  will  give  him  blood  to 
drink." — Ibid. 

And  she  laid  the  cloth,  assisted  by  Belinda  Cratchit, 
second  of  her  daughters,  also  brave  in  ribbons,  while 
Master  Peter  Cratchit  plunged  a  fork  into  the  saucepan 
of  potatoes,  and  getting  the  corners  of  his  monstrous 
shirt-collar,  Bob's  private  property,  conferred  upon  his 
son  and  heir  in  honor  of  the  day,  into  his  mouth, 
rejoiced  to  find  himself  so  gallantly  attired,  and  yearned 
to  show  his  linen  in  the  fashionable  parks. — DICKENS: 
A  Christmas  Carol. 

The  office  was  closed  in  a  twinkling,  and  the  clerk, 
with  the  long  ends  of  his  white  comforter  dangling 
below  his  waist,  for  he  boasted  no  great  coat,  went 
down  a  slide  on  Cornhill,  at  the  end  of  a  lane  of  boys, 
twenty  times,  in  honor  of  its  being  Christmas  Eve,  and 
then  ran  home  to  Camden  Town  as  hard  as  he  could 
pelt,  to  play  at  Blindman's  buff. — Ibid. 

He  held  the  theory  that  "all  teachers  were  servants 
of  the  state";  and  on  this  ground  ordered  her  dismissal. 
This  act  caused  a  great  commotion;  and  when  it  had 
died  down,  his  theory  that  "all  teachers" — and  it  made 
no  difference  how  many  years  they  had  been  in  service — 
"were  servants  of  the  state"  became  the  fixed  policy  of 
the  board. 

He  advanced  to  the  council  table: 

And,  "Please  your  honors,"  said  he,  "I'm  able 

By  means  of  a  secret  charm,  to  draw 

All  creatures  living  beneath  the  sun, 

That  creep  or  swim  or  fly  or  run, 


78      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

After  me  so  as  you  never  saw! 

And  I  chiefly  use  my  charm 

On  creatures  that  do  people  harm, 

The  mole  and  toad  and  newt  and  viper; 

And  people  call  me  the  Pied  Piper." 

(And  here  they  noticed  round  his  neck 

A  scarf  of  red  and  yellow  stripe, 

To  match  with  his  coat  of  the  selfsame  check; 

And  at  the  scarf's  end  hung  a  pipe; 

And  his  fingers,  they  noticed,  were  ever  straying 

As  if  impatient  to  be  playing 

Upon  this  pipe,  as  low  it  dangled 

Over  his  vesture  so  old-fangled.) 

"And  as  for  what  your  brain  bewilders, 

If  I  can  rid  your  town  of  rats, 

Will  you  give  me  a  thousand  gilders  ?" 

— BROWNING:  The  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin. 

But  as  the  main  idea  is  interrupted  by  two  or  three 
subordinate  groups  it  becomes  increasingly  difficult  to 
follow  the  text.  We  get  lost  in  a  maze  of  words  and 
get  but  a  small  part  or  even  none  of  the  meaning.  If 
then  you  will  but  keep  on  the  lookout  for  the  main  idea 
as  expressed  in  the  subject,  the  predicate  verb,  and  the 
object,  much  if  not  all  of  the  confusion  will  disappear. 

At  Atri  in  Abruzzo,  a  small  town 

Of  ancient  Roman  date,  but  scant  renown, 

One  of  those  little  places  that  have  run 

Half  up  a  hill,  beneath  a  blazing  sun, 

And  then  sat  down  to  rest,  as  if  to  say, 

"I  climb  no  further  upward,  come  what  may," 

The  Re  Giovanni,  now  unknown  to  fame, 

So  many  monarchs  since  have  borne  the  name, 

Had  a  great  bell  hung  in  the  market-place. 

— LONGFELLOW:     The  Bell  of  Atri. 


GROUP  VALUES:     SUBORDINATION  79 

In  place  of  this  clause  the  first  edition  has:  "Her 
figure,  her  air,  her  features, — all,  in  their  very  minutest 
development  were  those — were  identically  (I  can  use  no 
other  sufficient  term),  were  identically  those  of  Roderick 
Usher  who  sat  beside  me." — Comment  by  Prof.  Mathews 
on  a  passage  from  Poe. 

The  Longfellows  from  America,  Professor  Owen, 
Queen  Emma  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  son  of  the 
Abyssinian  King  Theodore,  who  lost  life  and  kingdom 
in  his  war  with  the  English,  and  Mr.  Darwin — to  whom 
Tennyson  said,  "Your  theory  of  Evolution  does  not 
make  against  Christianity?"  and  Darwin  answered, 
"No,  certainly  not" — may  be  mentioned  to  exemplify  the 
variety  of  his  visitors. — LYALL:  Alfred  Tennyson. 

All  the  public,  the  great  mass  of  solid  and  well-dis- 
posed people  who  had  got  no  deep  insight  into  such 
matters,  were  very  adverse  to  it,  and  the  president  of 
it,  old  Sir  Francis  Rous,  who  translated  the  Psalms — 
those  that  we  sing  every  Sunday  in  the  church  yet — a 
very  good  man  and  a  wise  man — the  Provost  of  Eton — 
he  got  the  minority,  or  I  don't  know  whether  or  not  he 
did  not  persuade  the  majority — he,  at  any  rate,  got  a 
great  number  of  the  Parliament  to  go  to  Oliver  the 
Dictator. — CARLYLE  :  Choice  of  Books. 

And  grossly  that  man  errs,  who  should  suppose 

That  the  green  valleys,  and  the  streams  and  rocks 

Were  things  indifferent  to  the  shepherd's  thoughts. 

Fields,  where  with  cheerful  spirits  he  had  breathed 

The  common  air;   the  hills,  which  he  so  oft 

Had  climbed  with  vigorous  steps ;  which  had  impress'd 

So  many  incidents  upon  his  mind 

Of  hardship,  skill,  or  courage,  joy,  or  fear; 

Which  like  a  book  preserved  the  memory 

Of  the  dumb  animals,  whom  he  had  saved, 

Had  fed  or  shelter'd  linking  to  such  acts, 


80      INTEEPKETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

So  grateful  in  themselves,  the  certainty 

Of  honorable  gain;  these  fields,  these  hills, 

Which  were  his  living  being,  even  more 

Than  his  own  blood — what  could  they  less?  had  laid 

Strong  hold  on  his  affections,  were  to  him 

A  pleasurable  feeling  of  blind  love, 

The  pleasure  which  there  is  in  life  itself. 

— WORDSWORTH  :    Michael. 

As  a  result  of  this  study  we  may  have  noted  in  the 
reading  of  the  subordinate  groups  a  tendency  to 
accelerate  the  speed  and  to  lower  the  pitch  of  the 
voice.  So  general  is  this  tendency  that  in  many  of 
the  old  text-books  on  reading  (and  to  some  extent 
even  in  our  modern  ones)  is  to  be  found  a  rule  that 
subordinate  groups  must  be  read  in  a  lower  pitch  and 
faster.  But  there  is  great  danger  in  accepting  this 
rule  blindly:  although  it  is  of  very  general  applica- 
tion it  is  often  seriously  misleading ;  for  while  a  group 
may  be  grammatically  subordinate,  it  may  be  emotionr 
ally,  or  because  of  particular  importance,  of  the  very 
greatest  value,  and  will  then  certainly  not  be  read 
"faster  and  lower."  Again,  it  is  to  be  emphasized 
that  we  do  not  have  to  think  about  the  voice:  this 
takes  care  of  itself;  but  the  student's  attention  is 
called  to  it  in  order  that  he  may  not  be  led  astray  by 
mechanical  rules. 

The  cunning  of  Mr.  Bucket's  eye,  and  the  masterly 
manner  in  which  he  contrived,  without  a  look  or  word 
against  which  his  watchful  auditor  could  protest,  to  let 
us  know  that  he  stated  the  case  according  to  previous 
agreement,  and  could  say  much  more  of  Mr.  Smallmeed 
if  he  thought  advisable,  deprived  us  of  any  merit  in 
quite  understanding  him. — DICKENS:  Bleak  House, 


GEOUP  VALUES:     SUBORDINATION  81 

Once  upon  a  time — of  all  the  good  days  in  the  year, 
upon  a  Christmas  eve — old  Scrooge  sat  busy  in  his 
counting  house.  It  was  cold,  bleak,  biting,  foggy 
weather;  and  the  city  clocks  had  only  just  gone  three, 
but  it  was  quite  dark  already — it  had  not  been  light  all 
day — and  candles  were  flaring  in  the  windows  of  the 
neighboring  offices,  like  ruddy  smears  upon  the  palpable 
brown  air. — DICKENS:  A  Christmas  Carol. 

The  gingham  dog  and  calico  cat 

Side  by  side  on  the  table  sat; 

'Twas  half-past  twelve  and  (what  do  you  think !) 

Not  one  nor  t'other  had  slept  a  wink. 

—FIELD:    The  Duel 

Out  of  the  focal  and  foremost  fire, 
Out  of  the  hospital  walls  as  dire; 
Smitten  of  grapeshot  and  gangrene, 
(Eighteenth  battle,  and  he  sixteen!) 
Specter !  such  as  you  seldom  see, 
Little  Giffen  of  Tennessee! 

— TICKNOR:    Little  Giffen. 

This  is  the  sword  of  Damascus  I  fought  with  in  Fland- 
ers; this  breastplate, 

(Well  I  remember  the  day!)   once  saved  my  life  in  a 
skirmish. 

— LONGFELLOW:    Miles  Standish. 

And  straight  the  Sun  was  fleck'd  with  bars, 
(Heaven's  Mother  send  us  grace!) 

As  if  through  a  dungeon-grate  he  peer'd 
With  broad  and  burning  face. 

— COLERIDGE:    The  Ancient  Mariner. 

I  am  that  man  upon  whose  head 
They  fix  the  price,  because  I  hate 
The  Austrians  over  us:  the  State 


82      INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Will  give  you  gold — oh,  gold  so  much ! — 
If  you  betray  me  to  their  clutch. 

— BROWNING:    The  Italian  in  England. 

We  of  peaceful  London  City  have  never  beheld — and 
please  God  shall  never  witness — such  a  scene  of  hurry 
and  alarm  as  that  which  Brussels  presented.  All  that 
day,  from  morning  until  past  sunset,  the  cannon  never 
ceased  to  roar.  It  was  dark  when  the  cannonading 
stopped. — THACKERAY:  Vanity  Fair. 

Queen  Kath.  Sir, 

I  am  about  to  weep;   but,  thinking  that 
We  are  a  queen,  or  long  have  dream'd  so,  certain, 
The  daughter  of  a  king,  my  drops  of  tears 
I'll  turn  to  sparks  of  fire. 

— King  Henry  Fill,  II,  iv. 

He  went  about  his  work — such  work  as  few 
Ever  had  laid  on  head  and  heart  and  hand — 
As  one  who  knows,  where  there's  a  task  to  do, 
Man's  honest  will  must  Heaven's  good  grace 
command. 

—TAYLOR:    Abraham  Lincoln. 

But  wasn't  it  grand, 

When  they  came  down  the  hill  over  sloughing  and  sand  ? 
But  we  stood — did  we  not? — like  immovable  rock, 
Unheeding  their  balls  and  repelling  their  shock. 

— WATSON  :    The  Wounded  Soldier. 

Little  fairy  snowflakes 
Dancing  in  the  flue; 
Old  Mr.  Santa  Claus, 
What  is  keeping  you  ? 
Twilight  and  firelight; 
Shadows  come  and  go; 
Merry  chime  of  sleigh-bells 


GROUP  VALUES:     COORDINATION  83 

Tinkling  through  the  snow; 
Mother  knitting  stockings 
(Pussy's  got  the  ball!) 
Don't  you  think  that  Winter's 
Pleasanter  than  all? 

— ALDRICH:    Marjorie's  Almanac. 

Thou  happy,  happy  elf! 
(But  stop, — first  let  me  kiss  away  that  tear,) 

Thou  tiny  image  of  myself ! 
(My  love,  he's  poking  peas  into  his  ear!) 

Thou  merry,  laughing  sprite! 
With  spirits  feather-light, 

Untouched  by  sorrow  and  unsoiled  by  sin ; 
(My  dear,  the  child  is  swallowing  a  pin!) 

Thou  little  tricksy  Puck ! 
With  antic  toys  so  funnily  bestuck, 

Light  as  the  singing  bird  that  wings  the  air — 
(The  door!  the  door!  he'll  tumble  down  the  stair!) 

Thou  darling  of  thy  sire ! 
(Why,  Jane,  he'll  set  his  pinafore  afire!) 

Thou  imp  of  mirth  and  joy! 
In  love's  dear  chain  so  strong  and  bright  a  link, 

Thou  idol  of  thy  parents ; — (hang  the  boy  ! 
There  goes  my  ink!) 

— HOOD:    Ode  to  an  Infant  Son. 

COORDINATION 

Just  as  sometimes  our  reading  is  ineffective  because 
we  do  not  recognize  that  some  groups  are  of  lesser 
value  than  others,  so  there  are  careless  readers  who 
fail  to  express  the  meaning  because  they  consciously 
or  unconsciously  subordinate  groups  that  should  be  of 
first  importance.  Here  is  a  test : 


84      INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Four  things  a  man  must  learn  to  do 
If  he  would  make  his  record  true: 
To  think  without  confusion,  clearly; 
To  love  his  fellow-men  sincerely; 
To  act  from  honest  motives  purely ; 
To  trust  in  God  and  Heaven  securely. 

— VAN  DYKE:    Four  Things. 

Frequently  the  author  wants  to  emphasize  certain 
ideas,  and  to  do  this  he  uses  the  same  construction  in 
several  successive  phrases.  In  Enoch  Arden  Tenny- 
son is  describing  the  awful  monotony  of  the  ship- 
wrecked sailor's  life.  Note  how  this  is  done,  particu- 
larly in  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  lines,  all  having  the 
same  value.  If  we  fail  to  appreciate  this  equivalence 
we  lose  something  of  the  meaning,  and,  naturally, 
shall  fail  to  communicate  it  to  our  audience.  If  you 
strive  to  bring  out  the  full  force  of  these  three  b'nes 
you  will  notice  that  the  vocal  expression  is  virtually 
alike  in  every  case. 

No  sail  from  day  to  day,  but  every  day 
The  sunrise  broken  into  scarlet  shafts 
Among  the  palms  and  ferns  and  precipices ; 
The  blaze  upon  the  waters  to  the  east ; 
The  blaze  upon  his  island  overhead ; 
The  blaze  upon  the  waters  to  the  west; 
Then  the  great  stars  that  globed  themselves 

in  Heaven, 

The  hollower-bellowing  ocean,  and  again 
The  scarlet  shafts  of  sunrise — but  no  sail. 

(Observe,  too,  that  the  two   statements  "Then   the 
great  stars  that  globed  themselves  in  Heaven"  and 


GROUP  VALUES:     COORDINATION  85 

"The   hollower-bellowing    ocean"    are    equivalent   in 
thought  value.) 

In  the  play  of  Julius  Caesar  Marcus  Brutus  believes 
himself  to  be  the  equal  of  any  man,  and  Cassius 
knows  that  if  Brutus  can  be  made  to  feel  that  Caesar 
considers  himself  his  superior,  Brutus  will  join  the 
conspiracy  to  overthrow  Caesar.  See,  then,  how  Cas- 
sius, by  using  a  number  of  sentences  of  equal  value, 
drives  home  this  one  thought.  All  his  arguments  are 
of  equal  weight  and  set  forth  in  the  same  structure. 
Therefore,  to  convey  the  meaning  of  Cassius  we,  too, 
must  express  them  all  in  exactly  the  same  way.  We 
must  not  forget  that  Shakespeare  probably  gave  no 
thought  as  he  wrote  to  the  details  of  vocal  expression ; 
nor,  of  course,  would  Cassius  (supposing  these  lines 
of  his  to  be  a  stenographic  record  of  what  the  real 
Cassius  said  to  the  real  Brutus)  be  consciously  careful 
to  speak  the  sentences  so  as  to  bring  out  their  coordi- 
nate value.  The  truth,  however,  is  that  his  mind, 
working  as  it  does,  reveals  itself  in  this  series  of  equiv- 
alent sentences ;  and  when  we  perceive  this  equivalence 
the  voice  instinctively  responds  in  equivalence  of  vocal 
expression. 

Cassius.     Brutus  and  Caesar:    what  should  be  in  that 

Caesar  ? 

Why  should  that  name  be  sounded  more  than  yours? 
Write  them  together,  yours  is  as  fair  a  name ; 
Sound  them,  it  doth  become  the  mouth  as  well ; 
Weigh  them,  it  is  as  heavy;  conjure  with  'em, 
"Brutus"  will  start  a  spirit  as  soon  as  "Caesar." 

— Julius  Caesar,  I,  ii. 


86 

Note  the  equivalence  of  value  in  the  subordinate 
phrases  in  the  next  extract.  There  has  just  died  the 
abbess  of  a  convent  where  for  some  years  Queen 
Guinevere  has  been  dwelling  as  a  simple  nun : 

Then  she,  for  her  good  deeds  and  her  pure  life, 
And  for  the  power  of  ministration  in  her, 
And  likewise  for  the  high  rank  she  had  borne, 
Was  chosen  Abbess,  there,  an  Abbess  lived 
For  three  brief  years,  and  there,  an  Abbess,  past 
To  where  beyond  these  voices  there  is  peace. 

—TENNYSON:    Guinevere. 

The  three  groups : 

for  her  good  deeds  and  her  pure  life, 
And  for  the  power  of  ministration  in  her, 
And  likewise  for  the  high  rank  she  had  borne, 

are  clearly  subordinate  to  the  rest  of  the  sentence,  but 
all  have  exactly  the  same  thought  value.  In  reading 
Jhis  extract  the  student  must  not  forget  that  the  prin- 
cipal sentence  is  "Then  she  .  .  .  was  chosen  Ab- 
bess," and  that,  let  me  repeat,  the  three  phrases  we 
have  discussed  are  subordinate,  but  all  equally  so. 

Cassius.    For  Cassius  is  aweary  of  the  world; 
Hated  by  one  he  loves ;  braved  by  his  brother ; 
Check'd  like  a  bondman;  all  his  faults  observed, 
Set  in  a  note-book,  learn'd,  and  conn'd  by  rote, 
To  cast  into  my  teeth. 

— Julius  Caesar,  IV,  iii. 

— Then  old  Fezziwig  stood  out  to  dance  with  Mrs. 
Fezziwig.  Top  couple,  too;  with  a  good  stiff  piece  of 
work  set  out  for  them;  three  or  four  and  twenty  pair 
of  partners;  people  who  were  not  to  be  trifled  with; 
people  who  would  dance  and  had  no  notion  of  walking. 


GROUP  VALUES:     COORDINATION  87 

But  if  there  had  been  twice  as  many — ah!  four 
times — old  Fezziwig  would  have  been  enough  for  them 
all,  and  so  would  Mrs.  Fezziwig. — DICKENS:  Chrittmat 
Carol. 

Sometimes  a  troop  of  damsels  glad, 
An  abbot  on  an  ambling  pad, 
Sometimes  a  curly  shepherd-lad, 
Or  long-hair'd  page  in  crimson  clad, 
Goes  by  to  tower'd  Camelot. 

—TENNYSON  :    The  Lady  of  Shalott. 

The  swain  responsive  as  the  milk-maid  sung, 
The  sober  herd  that  lowed  to  meet  their  young, 
The  noisy  geese  that  gabbled  o'er  the  pool, 
The  playful  children  just  let  loose  from  school, 
The  watch-dog's  voice  that  bayed  the  whispering 

wind, 

And  the  loud  laugh  that  spoke  the  vacant  mind ; — 
These  all  in  sweet  confusion  sought  the  shade, 
And  filled  each  pause  the  nightingale  had  made. 
— GOLDSMITH:    The  Deserted  Village. 

The  year's  at  the  spring, 
And  day's  at  the  morn; 
Morning's  at  seven; 
The  hillside's  dew-pearled; 
The  lark's  on  the  wing; 
The  snail's  on  the  thorn: 
God's  in  his  heaven — 
All's  right  with  the  world. 

— BROWNING:  Pippa  Passes. 

Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  arc 
honorable,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things 
are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever 
things  are  of  good  report;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if 
there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things. — THE  BIBLE. 


88      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

God  give  us  men !     A  time  like  this  demands 
Strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith,  and  ready 

hands ; 
Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy ; 
Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will; 

Men  who  have  honor, — men  who  will  not  lie; 
Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue, 

And    damn    his    treacherous    flatteries    without 

winking ! 
Tall  men,  sun-crowned,  who  live  above  the  fog 

In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking: 
For  while  the  rabble,  with  their  thumb-worn  creeds, 
Their  large  professions,  and  their  little  deeds, 
Mingle  in  selfish  strife,  lo !  Freedom  weeps, 
Wrong  rules  the  land,  and  waiting  Justice  sleeps ! 
— HOLLAND  :    Wanted — Men. 

FIRST  VOICE 

Men  of  thought!  be  up  and  stirring,  night  and  day: 
Sow  the  seed, — withdraw  the  curtain, — CLEAR  THE  WAY  ! 

SECOND  VOICE 
Men  of  action,  aid  and  cheer  them,  as  ye  may ! 

There's  a  fount  about  to  stream, 

There's  a  light  about  to  beam, 

There's  a  warmth  about  to  glow, 

There's  a  flower  about  to  blow; 
There's  a  midnight  blackness  changing  into  gray. 

FIRST  VOICE 
Men  of  thought  and  men  of  action,  CLEAR  THE  WAY! 

THIRD  VOICE 

Once  the  welcome  light  has  broken,  who  shall  say 
What  the  unimagined  glories  of  the  day? 
What  the  evil  that  shall  perish  in  its  ray? 


GEOUP  VALUES:     COORDINATION  89 

FOURTH  VOICE 

Aid  the  dawning,  tongue  and  pen ; 
Aid  it,  hopes  of  honest  men; 
Aid  it,  paper;  aid  it,  type; 
Aid  it,  for  the  hour  is  ripe, 
And  our  earnest  must  not  slacken  into  play. 

FIRST  VOICE 
Men  of  thought  and  men  of  action,  CLEAR  THE  WAY! 

SECOND  VOICE 

Lo!  a  cloud's  about  to  vanish  from  the  day; 
And  a  brazen  wrong  to  crumble  into  clay. 
Lo !  the  right's  about  to  conquer:   CLEAR  THE  WAV! 

THIRD  VOICE 

With  the  right  shall  many  more 
Enter  smiling  at  the  door; 
With  the  giant  wrong  shall  fall 
Many  others,  great  and  small, 
That  for  ages  long  have  held  us  for  their  prey. 

ALL 
Men  of  thought  and  men  of  action,  CLEAR  THE  WAY! 

— MACKAY:    Clear  the  Way  (arranged). 


CHAPTER  IV 

GROUP  SEQUENCE  WITH  SUBORDINATION 

The  problem  of  Sequence  is  often  complicated  by 
that  of  Subordination.  It  is  worth  while  therefore 
to  devote  an  entire  chapter  to  studying  some  pas- 
sages especially  chosen  to  test  your  ability  in  both 
problems. 

Where  the  subordinate  groups  are  long,  or  where 
there  are  many  in  succession,  there  is  likely  to  be  con- 
fusion in  the  reader's  mind,  and  to  avoid  this  it  is 
advisable  to  cut  them  out  temporarily  and  lay  stress 
on  getting  the  principal  idea  or  statement.  When  the 
student  has  that  clearly  in  mind  let  him  study  care- 
fully the  subordinate  idea  or  ideas.  Then  in  reading 
aloud,  when  he  comes  to  the  point  in  the  sentence  where 
the  main  idea  is  interrupted  by  the  subordinate  one, 
let  him  pause  an  instant  and,  keeping  in  mind  the  prin- 
cipal sentence  so  far  as  it  has  gone,  read  the  subordi- 
nate idea  until  he  comes  again  to  the  main  statement, 
and  then  finish  that  without  regard  to  the  interruption. 

Her   fair  head,  with  all 

Its  wealth  of  hair  shining  and  richly  brown 
Like  melon  seeds,  its  eyes  of  topaz,  lips 
Like  twin  pomegranate  blooms,  its  cheeks  as  smooth 
As  a  flute's  note,  and  all  that  loveliness 

90 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  WITH  SUBORDINATION        91 

Had  caught  the  heart  of  Rohab  as  a  snare 
Tangles  the  falcon  in  a  coil  of  death, 
Fell,  changed  to  a  thing  of  horror,  drenched  in  blood, 
And  beautiful  no  more. 


— ARLO  BATES:   The  Sorrow  of  Rohab. 

As  the  long  train 

Of  ages  glide  away,  the  sons  of  men, — 
The  youth,  in  life's  green  spring,  and  he  who  goes 
In  the  full  strength  of  years,  matron  and  maid, 
The  speechless  babe,  and  the  gray-headed  man, — 
Shall  one  by  one  be  gathered  to  thy  side, 
By  those  who  in  their  turn  shall  follow  them. 

— BRYANT:    Thanatopsis. 

In  the  above  extracts  the  principal  statements  are 
intentionally  underlined  as  indicating  a  simple  plan  for 
students  to  follow  in  their  own  analysis  when  there  is 
only  one  degree  of  subordination.  When  the  main 
idea  is  interrupted  more  than  once  by  subordinate 
groups  the  marking  is  even  more  helpful. 

For  artistic  reasons  Tennyson  purposely  draws  out 
the  simple  statement  concerning  Sir  Bedivere  watching 
the  departure  of  the  barge  which  bore  the  body  of  the 
dead  king.  As  you  read  it  hurriedly  it  is  anything 
but  clear,  and  there  are  two  places  where  there  is  much 
danger  of  getting  the  wrong  meaning.  Read  it  aloud 
at  sight: 

Thereat  once  more  he  moved  about,  and  clomb 
Ev'n  to  the  highest  he  could  climb,  and  saw, 
Straining  his  eye  beneath  an  arch  of  hand, 
Or  thought  he  saw,  the  speck  that  bare  the  King, 
Down  that  long  water  opening  on  the  deep 


92      INTEBPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Somewhere  far  off,  pass  on  and  on,  and  go 
From  less  to  less  and  vanish  into  light. 

—TENNYSON:    The  Passing  of  Arthur. 

Now  see  how  the  marking  I  have  suggested  helps  you 
to  get  the  right  meaning: 

Thereat  once  more  he  moved  about,  and  clomb 
Ev'n  to  the  highest  he  could  climb,  and  saw, 
Straining  his  eye  beneath  an  arch  of  hand. 
Or  thought  he  saw,  the  speck  that  bare  the  King, 
Down  that  long  water  opening  on  the  deep 
Somewhere  far  off,  pass  on  and  on,  and  go 
From  less  to  less  and  vanish  into  light. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  examples  I  have  ever 
come  across  is  this  from  The  Book  of  Esther.  Here 
certainly,  one  might  say,  is  a  passage  so  mixed  up  that 
nobody  can  be  expected  to  make  head  or  tail  out  of  it. 
But  study  it  in  the  manner  I  have  indicated  and  all 
becomes  clear.  Perhaps  the  sentence  would  not  have 
been  written  in  that  way  in  our  day,  but  that  is  not  the 
question:  which  is,  Can  we  interpret  it  as  it  stands? 

Then  the  king  said  to  the  wise  men  (for  so  was  the 
king's  manner  toward  all  that  knew  law  and  judgment; 
and  the  next  unto  him  was  Carshena,  Shethar,  Admatha, 
Tarshish,  Meres,  Marsena,  and  Memucan,  the  seven 
princes  of  Persia  and  Media,  which  saw  the  king's  face 
and  sat  first  in  the  kingdom)  :  What  shall  we  do  unto 
queen  Vashti? — Esther,  I,  13. 

Work  it  out  carefully  and  don't  be  afraid  of  those 
strange  looking  names  of  the  seven  princes.  Just  pass 
them  over  lightly  for  the  present  as  though  they  were 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  WITH  SUBORDINATION        93 

English  names,  William,  James,  and  the  like.  It  may 
be  helpful  to  diagram  the  sentence  as  you  have  done 
in  your  grammar  lessons.  Then  read  it  aloud — the 
entire  class  can  do  this  in  concert — as  I  mark  it  below : 

THEN  THE  KING  SAID  TO  THE  WISE 
MEN  .  .  .  WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO  UNTO 
QUEEN  VASHTI? 

THEN  THE  KING  SAID  TO  THE  WISE 
MEN  (for  so  was  the  king's  manner  toward  all  that 
knew  law  and  judgment;  .  .  .)  :  WHAT  SHALL 
WE  DO  UNTO  QUEEN  VASHTI? 

THEN    THE    KING   SAID    TO    THE   WISE 

MEN  (for  so  was  the  king's  manner  toward  all  that 
knew  law  and  judgment ;  AND  THE  NEXT  UNTO  HIM  WAS 
CARSHENA,  SHETHAR,  ADMATHA,  TARSHISH,  MERES, 
MARSENA,  AND  MEMUCAN,  .  .  .) :  WHAT  SHALL 
WE  DO  UNTO  QUEEN  VASHTI? 

THEN  THE  KING  SAID  TO  THE  WISE 
MEN  (for  so  was  the  king's  manner  toward  all  that 
knew  law  and  judgment ;  AND  THE  NEXT  UNTO  HIM  WAS 
CARSHENA,  SHETHAR,  ADMATHA,  TARSHISH,  MERES, 
MARSENA,  AND  MEMUCAN,  THE  SEVEN  PRINCES  OF  PERSIA 
AND  MEDIA,  .  .  .) :  WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO  UNTO 
QUEEN  VASHTI? 

THEN  THE  KING  SAID  TO  THE  WISE 
MEN  (for  so  was  the  king's  manner  toward  all  that 
knew  law  and  judgment ;  AND  THE  NEXT  UNTO  HIM  WAS 
CARSHENA,  SHETHAR,  ADMATHA,  TARSHISH,  MERES, 
MARSENA,  AND  MEMUCAN,  THE  SEVEN  PRINCES  OF  PERSIA 
AND  MEDIA,  which  saw  the  king's  face  and  sat  first  in  the 
kingdom):  WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO  UNTO 
QUEEN  VASHTI? 


94      INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Study  the  next  excerpt  as  you  did  the  preceding. 
The  speaker  is  telling  of  his  uncle  who  had  at  first 
laughed  and  then  grown  suddenly  serious  at  a  piece  of 
news  of  how  the  speaker — then  a  boy — had  pelted  the 
Jews. 

NO,  BOY,  WE  MUST  NOT    (SO  BEGAN 
MY  UNCLE—  He's  with  God  long  since— 
A-PETTING  ME,  the  good  old  man!) 

WE  MUST  NOT    (AND  HE  SEEMED  TO  WINCE, 
AND  LOST  THAT  LAUGH  WHERETO  HAD  GROWN 

HIS  CHUCKLE  AT  MY  PIECE  OF  NEWS, 
HOW  CLEVERLY  I  AIMED  MY  STONE) 
I  FEAR  WE  MUST  NOT  PELT  THE  JEWS! 
— BROWNING:    Baldinucci. 

A  final  example  will  drive  home  the  contention  that 
many  long  sentences  complicated  with  subordinate 
groups  will  give  up  their  meaning  with  a  little  careful 
study,  and  furthermore  that  when  we  recognize  the 
source  of  the  difficulty  the  vocal  expression  becomes 
relatively  easy.  In  Henry  VIII,  Cardinal  Campeius  is 
begging  Queen  Katherine  to  listen  patiently  to  the 
plea  of  the  Duke  of  York,  which  up  to  that  time  she 
had  scorned  to  do ;  and  moreover  had  bitterly  attacked 
him,  saying  he  was  her  enemy.  It  is  printed  with  and 
without  the  particular  marking  to  emphasize  the  fact 
that  what  type  does  not  do  (except  occasionally  when 
an  author  italicizes)  we  must  do  for  ourselves:  learn 
to  appreciate  the  different  thought  values: 

Most  honour 'd  madam, 

My  Lord  of  York,  out  of  his  noble  nature, 
Zeal  and  obedience  he  still  bore  your  Grace, 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  WITH  SUBORDINATION        95 

(Forgetting,  like  a  good  man,  your  late  censure 
Both  of  his  truth  and  him,  which  was  too  far) 
Offers,  as  I  do,  in  a  sign  of  peace, 
His  service  and  his  counsel. 

-Ill,  i. 

Most  Honor'd  Madam, 

MY  LORD  OF  YORK,  out  of  His  Noble  Nature, 
Zeal  and  Obedience  He  Still  Bore  Your  Grace, 
(FORGETTING,  LIKE  A  GOOD  MAN,  YOUR  LATE  CENSURE 
BOTH  OF  His  TRUTH  AND  HIM,  WHICH  WAS  TOO  FAR) 
OFFERS,  As  I  Do,  IN  A  SIGN  OF  PEACE, 
HIS  SERVICE  AND  HIS  COUNSEL. 

REVIEW  EXERCISES 

As  adders  held 

In  a  strong  grasp  writhe  to  be  free  and  sting, 
The  hostile  tribes  had  writhed  while  Rohab's  hand 
Held  them  in  clutch  of  steel;  but  now  at  last, 
When  Rohab  left  the  spear  to  thirst,  the  sword 
To  rust  undrawn,  and  heard  no  sound  more  harsh 
Than  the  lute's  pleading;  now  that  Lutra's  love 
To  him  was  all  in  all,  to  which  mere  crown 
And  throne  and  people  counted  naught, — there  rose 
A  hundred  murmurs  sinister — the  stir 
And  rustle  of  his  foes  who  knew  their  time 
Had  come. 

— ARLO  BATES  :  The  Sorrow  of  Rohab. 

At  the  termination  of  this  sentence  I  started,  and 
for  a  moment  paused;  for  it  appeared  to  me  (although 
I  at  once  concluded  that  my  excited  fancy  had  de- 
ceived me) — it  appeared  to  me  that,  from  some  very  re- 
mote portion  of  the  mansion,  there  came,  indistinctly,  to 
my  ears  what  might  have  been,  in  its  exact  similarity 


96      INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

of  character,  the  echo  (but  a  stifled  and  dull  one  cer- 
tainly) of  the  very  cracking  and  ripping  sound  which 
Sir  Lancelot  had  so  particularly  described. — POE:  The 
Fall  of  the  House  of  Usher. 

The  second  of  Chanticleer's  two  wives,  ever  since 
Phoebe's  arrival,  had  been  in  a  state  of  heavy  despond- 
ency, caused,  as  it  afterwards  appeared,  by  her  in- 
ability to  lay  an  egg.  One  day,  however,  by  her  self- 
important  gait,  the  side-way  turn  of  her  head,  and  the 
cock  of  her  eye,  as  she  pried  into  one  and  another 
nook  of  the  garden, — croaking  to  herself,  all  the  while, 
with  inexpressible  complacency, — it  was  made  evident 
that  this  identical  hen,  much  as  mankind  undervalued 
her,  carried  something  about  her  person,  the  worth  of 
which  was  not  to  be  estimated  either  in  gold  or  precious 
stones.  Shortly  after,  there  was  a  prodigious  cackling 
and  gratulation  of  Chanticleer  and  all  his  family,  in- 
cluding the  wizened  chicken,  who  appeared  to  under- 
stand the  matter  quite  as  well  as  did  his  sire,  his  mother, 
or  his  aunt.  That  afternoon  Phoebe  found  a  diminu- 
tive egg — not  in  the  regular  nest — it  was  far  too  precious 
to  be  trusted  there — but  cunningly  hidden  under  the 
currant-bushes  on  some  dry  stalks  of  last  year's  grass. 
— HAWTHORNE:  The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables. 

Through  the  general  hum  following  the  stage  pause, 
with  the  change  of  positions,  etc.,  came  the  muffled 
sound  of  a  pistol  shot,  which  not  one-hundredth  part 
of  the  audience  heard  at  the  time — and  yet  a  moment's 
hush — somehow,  surely  a  vague,  startled  thrill — and 
then,  through  the  ornamented,  draperied,  starr'd  and 
striped  space-way  of  the  President's  box,  a  sudden 
figure,  a  man  raises  himself  with  hands  and  feet,  and 
stands  a  moment  on  the  railing,  leaps  below  to  the 
stage  (a  distance  of  perhaps  fourteen  or  fifteen  feet), 
falls  out  of  position,  catching  his  boot-heel  in  the  copious 


GROUP  SEQUENCE  WITH  SUBORDINATION        97 

drapery  (the  American  flag),  falls  on  one  knee,  quickly 
recovers  himself,  rises  as  if  nothing  had  happen'd  (he 
really  sprains  his  ankle,  but  unfelt  then), — and  so  the 
figure,  Booth,  the  murderer,  dress'd  in  plain  black 
broadcloth,  bare-headed,  with  a  full  head  of  glossy, 
raven  hair,  and  his  eyes  like  some  mad  animal's  flash- 
ing with  light  and  resolution,  yet  with  a  certain  strange 
calmness,  holds  aloft  in  one  hand  a  large  knife — walks 
along  not  much  back  from  the  footlights — turns  fully 
toward  the  audience  his  face  of  statuesque  beauty,  lit 
by  those  basilisk  eyes,  flashing  with  desperation,  per- 
haps insanity — launches  out  in  a  firm  and  steady  voice 
the  words,  Sic  semper  tyrannis — and  then  walks  with 
neither  slow  nor  very  rapid  pace  diagonally  across  to 
the  back  of  the  stage,  and  disappears. — WHITMAN. 


CHAPTER  V 

INVERSION 

We  have  seen  that  we  must  group  carefully  before 
we  can  hope  to  understand.  But  here  is  a  sentence 
in  which  although  the  grouping  is  simple,  there  is  a 
distinctly  new  problem: 

Meanwhile,  impatient  to  mount  and  ride, 
Booted  and  spurred,  with  a  heavy  stride 
On  the  opposite  shore  walked  Paul  Revere. 

— LONGFELLOW:  Paul  Revere' s  Ride. 

What  is  the  difficulty?  The  groups  are  inverted,  that 
is,  not  arranged  in  the  order  of  everyday  conversa- 
tion. It  is  rare  that  we  find  the  subject  of  a  sentence 
at  the  end,  and  hence  in  this  illustration,  we  may  miss 
the  meaning  unless  we  rethink  it  something  as  follows : 
Meanwhile,  Paul  Revere,  impatient  to  mount  and  ride, 
booted  and  spurred,  walked,  with  a  heavy  stride,  on 
the  opposite  shore. 

Sometimes  the  inversion  may  be  only  a  word  or  two, 
as  in  the  following: 

Him  the  Almighty  power 

Hurl'd  headlong  flaming  from  th'  ethereal  sky. 

— MILTON:    Paradise  Lost. 

Was  Irving  not  good,  and,  of  his  works,  was  not  his 
life  the  best  part? — THACKERAY:  Nil  Nisi  Bonum. 

98 


INVERSION  99 

But  even  in  such  simple  cases  care  must  be  taken  to 
avoid  blurring  the  picture.  Here  is  another  sentence 
that  must  be  straightened  out  carefully  before  we  can 
get  the  meaning : 

With  sloping  masts  and  dipping  prow, 
As  who  pursued  with  yell  and  blow 
Still  treads  the  shadow  of  his  foe, 
And  forward  bends  his  head, 
The  ship  drove  fast,  loud  roar'd  the  blast, 
And  southward  aye  we  fled. 
— COLERIDGE:   The  Rime  of  the  Ancient  Mariner. 

Rewrite  the  above  in  the  natural  order  of  subject, 
modifiers,  and  predicate.  Note  also  how  the  difficulty 
is  increased  because  of  the  subordinate  clause: 

As  who  pursued  with  yell  and  blow 
Still  treads  the  shadow  of  his  foe, 
And  forward  bends  his  head. 

But  we  are  greatly  helped  when  we  recognize  that  the 
sentence  is  inverted.  We  note  that  "With  sloping 
masts,"  etc.,  is  incomplete  in  its  meaning,  and  hence 
we  look  forward  for  the  group  that  completes  the 
sense,  which  we  find  in  "The  ship  drove  fast,"  etc. 


REVIEW  EXERCISES 

So  saying,  a  noble  stroke  he  lifted  high, 
Which  hung  not,  but  so  swift  with  tempest  fell 
On  the  proud  crest  of  Satan,  that  no  sight, 
Nor  motion  of  swift  thought,  less  could  his  shield. 
Such  ruin  intercept. 

— MILTON:   Paradise  Lost. 


100    INTERPBETATION  OP  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

High  in  front  advanced, 

The  brandished  sword  of  God  before  them  blazed 
Fierce  as  a  comet.  — MILTON:  Paradise  Lost. 

Him,  Menelaus,  loved  of  Mars,  beheld 
Advancing  with  large  strides  before  the  rest. 

— The  Iliad  (Bryant's  translation). 

Me   master   years    a   hundred    since    from   my   parents 

sunder'd, 
A  little  child,  they  caught  me  as  the  savage  beast  is 

caught,  • 

Then  hither  me  across  the  sea  the  cruel  slaver  brought. 
— WHITMAN  :  Ethiopia  Saluting  the  Colors. 

On  the  sea  and  at  the  Hogue,  sixteen  hundred  ninety- 
two, 

Did  the  English  fight  the  French, — woe  to  France ! 
And,  the  thirty-first  of  May,  helter-skelter  through  the 

blue, 
Like  a  crowd  of  frightened  porpoises  a  shoal  of  sharks 

pursue, 

Came  crowding  ship  on  ship  to  St.  Malo  on  the  Ranee, 
With  the  English  fleet  in  view. 

— BROWNING:  Herve  Riel. 

Whither,  'midst  falling  dew, 

While  glow  the  heavens  with  the  last  steps  of  day, 
Far,  through  their  rosy  depths,  dost  thou  pursue 

Thy  solitary  way? 

— BRYANT:    To  a  Waterfowl. 

Little  thinks,  in  the  field,  yon  red-cloaked  clown, 
Of  thee  from  the  hill-top  looking  down. 

— EMERSON:  Each  and  All. 


INVERSION  101 

Thus  while  they  look'd,  a  flourish  proud, 

Where  mingled  trump,  and  clarion  loud, 

And  fife,  and  kettle-drum, 

And  sacbut  deep,  and  psaltery, 

And  war-pipe  with  discordant  cry, 

And  cymbal  clattering  to  the  sky, 

Making  wild  music  bold  and  high, 

Did  up  the  mountain  come ; 

The  whilst  the  bells,  with  distant  chime, 

Merrily  tolFd  the  hour  of  prime, 

And  thus  the  Lindesay  spoke. 

— WHITTIER  :   Snow-Bound. 

As  night  drew  on,  and,  from  the  crest 
Of  wooded  knolls  that  ridged  the  west, 
The  sun,  a  snow-blown  traveler,  sank 
From  sight  beneath  the  smothering  bank, 
We  piled  with  care  our  nightly  stack 
Of  wood  against  the  chimney -back. 

— Ibid. 

It  little  profits  that  an  idle  king, 
By  this  still  hearth,  among  these  barren  crags, 
Match'd  with  an  aged  wife,  I  mete  and  dole 
Unequal  laws  unto  a  savage  race,          I 
That  hoard,  and  sleep,  and  feed,  and  know  not  me. 

—TENNYSON  :    Ulysses. 

How  changed  is  here  each  spot  man  makes  or  fills ! 
In  the  two  Hinkseys  nothing  keeps  the  same ; 

The  village  street  its  haunted  mansion  lacks, 
And  from  the  sign  is  gone  Sibylla's  name, 

And  from  the  roofs  the  twisted  chimney-stacks — 

Are  ye  too  changed,  ye  hills? 
See,  'tis  no  foot  of  unfamiliar  men 

To-night  from  Oxford  up  your  pathway  strays! 

Here  came  I  often,  often,  in  old  days — 
Thyrsis  and  I ;  we  still  had  Thyrsis  then. 

— ARNOLD  :    Thyrrit. 


Others  for  language  all  their  care  express, 
And  value  books,  as  women,  men  for  dress. 

— POPE:   An  Essay  on  Criticism. 

All  night,  the  dreadless  angel,  unpursued, 

Through  Heaven's  wide  champaign  held  his  way,  till 

Morn, 

Waked  by  the  circling  Hours,  with  rosy  hand 
Unbarred  the  gates  of  light. 

— MILTON:   Paradise  Lost. 


CHAPTER  VI 

DENOTATION 

While  we  have  been  studying  the  preceding  chap- 
ters we  have  found  ourselves  learning  to  read  with 
greater  ease  and  thoroughness;  however,  it  is  quite 
possible  to  understand  the  principles  and  yet  miss  the 
meaning.  Merely  to  group  correctly  does  not  neces- 
sarily imply  reading  with  understanding.  In  the  lines : 

No  habitation  can  be  seen;   but  they 

Who  journey  thither  find  themselves  alone 

With  a  few  sheep,  with  rocks  and  stones,  and  kites 

That  overhead  are  sailing  in  the  sky. 

It  is  in  truth  an  utter  solitude; 

— WORDSWORTH:  Michael. 

there  is  a  word  whose  meaning  in  this  place  is  en- 
tirely different  from  its  usual  one.  Can  you  find  it? 
How  could  the  place  be  without  any  habitation,  one 
where  those  who  journey  thither  find  themselves  alone 
with  a  few  sheep,  etc.,  and  yet  with  "kites"  sailing 
overhead  in  the  sky  ?  Would  not  sailing  kites  presup- 
pose someone  sailing  them?  Look  up  this  word  in 
the  dictionary  and  when  you  get  its  meaning  note  how 
that  one  word  affects  the  picture.  Another  example : 

Do  you  know  the  pile-built  village  where  the  sago  dealers 
trade  ? 

103 


104    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

We  see  that  "village"  marks  the  end  of  the  first 
group,  and  yet  we  may  not  know  what  "pile-built" 
means.  Or  again,  we  can  read  the  second  group 
and  not  grasp  the  meaning  of  "sago  dealers."  In 
fact,  a  keen  student  could  read  the  line  with  perfect 
expression  and  yet  fail  entirely  to  understand  it.  He 
would  see  clearly  that  the  line  spoke  of  some  kind 
of  village  where,  some  kind  of  dealers  trade,  and  that  is 
all.  It  is  necessary,  then,  to  find  out  what  "pile-built" 
means.  "Built  on  piles,"  you  might  say.  Yes,  but  do 
you  really  know  what  that  means  ?  If  you  do  not,  the 
author  might  as  well  have  written,  "Do  you  see  the 
little  village?"  or,  "the  ancient  village?"  or  any  other 
kind  of  village.  But  he  wants  to  bring  before  your 
mind  a  picture  you  have  seen  before,  or  a  new  one 
which  you  may  make  up  out  of  old  material.  If  you 
have  seen  a  pile-built  village,  you  can  easily  picture  it 
(you  can  really  get  the  sense  in  such  a  case  without 
recalling  the  picture)  ;  but  if  you  haven't  seen  it,  what 
materials  have  you  out  of  which  to  make  it?  It  is 
easy  to  say  a  "pile"  means  "a  heavy  timber  forced 
into  the  earth  to  form  a  foundation  for  a  building, 
wharf,  or  the  like";  and  "pile-built"  means  built  on 
piles ;  and  "pile-built  village"  means  a  village  built  on 
piles.  The  question  is,  do  you  get  the  meaning?  If 
not,  what  is  the  nearest  thing  to  it  you  have  ever  seen  ? 
Have  you  seen  piles  that  have  been  driven  into  sand  to 
support  the  foundation  of  a  building?  Have  you 
seen  piles  that  served  as  a  breakwater  against  the 
beating  waves?  Have  you  seen  a  house  or  a  hut 
standing  on  piles?  Something  like  one  of  these  you 


DENOTATION  105 

must  have  seen  or  you  can't  understand  what  Kipling 
saw  in  that  village.  You  can  substitute  your  words 
for  the  author's,  but  don't  make  the  great  mistake, 
that  so  many  make,  of  believing  that  definitions  are  all 
we  need  to  enable  us  to  get  the  author's  meaning.  No, 
the  only  definition  that  can  satisfy  us  is  the  idea,  or 
the  sense,  or  the  picture.  If  our  experience  isn't 
enough,  then  we  must  get  help  from  dictionary,  or 
encyclopedia,  or  teacher,  or  from  someone  who  really 
has  seen  the  picture  or  something  like  it.  If  we  can't 
get  that  help,  then,  at  least  we  know  that  we  don't 
know,  and  that  is  far  better  than  deceiving  ourselves 
that  we  are  reading  because  we  can  define  the  words. 
In  the  following  scientific  extract  you  will  find  very 
little  difficulty,  and  of  what  the  author  has  to  tell  you, 
you  will  get  a  general  idea  in  one  rapid  reading. 

WHY    THE   CANVASBACK   DUCK   LEFT    CHESAPEAKE    BAY 

Chesapeake  Bay  is  no  longer  the  special  feeding  place 
of  the  canvasback  duck,  although  sixty  years  ago  it  was 
one  of  the  most  important  wintering  places  for  ducks  in 
the  United  States,  usually  spoken  of  as  a  winter  resort, 
though  really  there  was  a  time  during  most  winters  when 
the  ducks  were  forced  by  the  ice  farther  south  for  a  few 
days  or  weeks. 

Here  was  the  preferred  winter  home  of  the  celebrated 
canvasback,  whence  many  hundred  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  the  birds  have  been  shipped  to  the  northern 
markets.  Today  a  canvasback  is  almost  a  rarity  in 
Chesapeake  Bay,  and  the  few  survivors  spend  the  winter 
farther  south,  on  the  North  Carolina  coast. 

Chesapeake  Bay  was  formerly  the  natural  goal  of  a 
large  proportion  of  the  canvasbacks  and  redheads  which 


106    INTERPKETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

nested  in  central  Canada.  They  had  a  peculiar  migra- 
tion route.  Nesting  in  the  lake  region  of  Manitoba  and 
Saskatchewan,  they  found  stretching  thence  southeast- 
ward an  almost  continuous  chain  of  lakes  supplying  an 
abundance  of  food  and  especially  favorable  conditions  to 
tempt  a  journey  in  that  direction.  This  flight  led,  nat- 
urally, to  Chesapeake  Bay,  which  used  to  provide  an 
almost  unlimited  quantity  of  their  greatest  delicacy — 
wild  celery — and  otherwise  was  admirably  adapted  for  a 
fall,  winter,  and  spring  sojourn,  except  during  an  occa- 
sional week  or  two  of  unusually  cold  weather. 

Persistent  persecution  by  gunners  from  early  fall  to 
late  spring  has  almost  annihilated  the  myriads  of  fowls 
of  the  finest  varieties  that  used  to  blacken  the  surface 
of  the  bay. 

Now  read  it  again  with  particular  care.  If  you 
were  reading  just  for  the  pleasure  of  the  story  you 
would  not  care  to  stop  for  each  detail,  but  is  it  not 
true  that  a  second  reading  gives  you  many  new  and 
interesting  details?  The  first  time  you  read  it  did  you 
note  that  sixty  years  ago  Chesapeake  Bay  was  an  im- 
portant place  for  ducks  ?  that  occasionally  the  ice  there 
would  drive  them  farther  south?  for  a  few  days  or 
weeks?  Did  you  remember,  after  the  first  reading, 
that  the  few  surviving  canvasbacks  now  winter  on  the 
Carolina  coast? 

This  study,  then,  has  shown  us  that  even  in  para- 
graphs no  more  difficult  than  those  in  our  everyday 
lessons,  careful  reading  is  necessary  in  order  to  insure 
our  not  overlooking  important  statements.  It  drives 
us  to  see  what  stands  in  the  way  of  our  getting  the 
sense :  whether  it  be  the  meaning  of  a  word,  or  lack  of 
familiarity  with  the  idea  expressed  by  the  group.  In 


DENOTATION  107 

the  following  paragraph  there  is  apparently  nothing 
difficult  to  understand : 

Some  birds  are  protected  because  of  their  diet,  as  the 
wood-peckers  and  fly-catchers ;  others  for  their  song — 
thrushes  and  mocking-birds ;  others  for  esthetic  reasons — 
gulls  and  terns;  while  the  protection  of  ducks  and  geese 
is  purely  utilitarian;  they  furnish  a  highly  prized  food, 
and  the  sport  of  hunting  them  involves  an  outdoor  life 
and  exercise  which  is  worth  far  more  to  the  individual 
and  the  community  than  the  dietary  value  of  the  game 
secured. 

The  author  says,  "Some  birds  are  protected  because 
of  their  diet,  as  the  wood-peckers  and  fly-catchers." 
You  understand  that  "wood-peckers"  and  "fly-catch- 
ers" are  birds,  and  you  know  what  "protected"  and 
"diet"  are;  but  do  you  know  that  in  this  sentence 
"protected"  means  protected  by  laws  which  prohibit 
killing  these  birds?  Again,  you  know  that  "diet" 
stands  for  that  on  which  the  birds  feed ;  but  it  is  not 
until  you  know  that  this  diet  consists  of  insects  that 
destroy  our  trees  and  flowers  and  crops  that  you  get 
the  complete  force  of  the  sentence.  It  is  very  easy  to 
read  such  a  sentence  as  "Some  birds  are  protected 
because  of  their  diet" ;  but  when  you  read  it  once  or 
twice  carefully  you  are  compelled  to  ask  yourself 
"why?"  and  thus  you  learn  that  the  words  have  no 
value  for  you  until  they  convey  definite  meaning. 
Grouping  narrows  down  the  problem :  it  shows  us  what 
is  clear  and  what  is  obscure  and  then  we  reach  the  point 
where  we  recognize  that  certain  words  or  groups  have  to 
be  defined  clearly  before  we  can  understand  the  text. 


108    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

It  is  perhaps  our  very  familiarity  with  the  appearance 
or  sound  of  words  that  stands  (whether  we  stop  to 
think  of  it  or  not)  in  the  way  of  our  getting  thought. 
"Protection"  and  "diet"  and  "kite"  and  "pile"  and 
"built"  are  not  sufficiently  strange  in  appearance  to 
arrest  our  attention ;  so  we  read  along  content  to  get 
a  little  here  and  a  little  there,  seldom  recognizing  how 
much  has  escaped  us  until  we  are  closely  questioned. 
This  matter  is  so  important  that  too  much  emphasis 
cannot  be  laid  on  it.  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to 
persuade  you  to  read  over  some  lesson  you  had  last 
week  or  some  article  you  read  in  yesterday's  news- 
paper, to  prove  that  you  had  only  half  read  it!  I 
can  only  urge  upon  you  then  to  follow  carefully  the 
rest  of  this  chapter  and  test  to  the  uttermost  the  sound- 
ness of  the  principles  discussed  in  it. 

In  the  foregoing  illustrations  we  should  probably 
have  got  at  least  a  fair  part  of  the  thought  in  one 
reading.  We  have  found,  however,  that  a  second  and 
a  third  reading  not  only  gave  us  more  thoughts  and 
ideas,  but  showed  that  there  were  some  words  that  had 
to  be  defined  before  we  could  get  the  idea,  no  matter 
how  carefully  we  grouped.  In  the  next  selection  the 
appearance  of  the  words  is  repellent,  and  when  we 
attempt  to  read  in  our  usual  hurried  manner,  we  get 
very  little  from  it,  and  then  we  are  likely  to  give  up 
trying,  thinking  that  the  passage  is  too  hard.  And 
yet  it  is  full  of  interesting  information  taken  from  a 
well  known  work  on  psychology,  by  William  James. 

The  very  word  "psychology"  sounds  hard  and  dry, 
but  what  could  be  more  interesting  than  to  know  how 


DENOTATION  109 

we  think,  and  feel,  and  see,  and  taste,  and  why  our 
muscles  move!  These  things  psychology  teaches  us. 
In  the  paragraphs  that  follow,  the  author  is  discussing 
taste.  The  first  section,  if  read  with  a  little  care, 
will  give  up  its  meaning  when  we  become  acquainted 
with  a  few  simple  terms.  But  even  here  the  analysis 
of  the  paragraph  group  by  group  will  reveal  not  only 
what  you  know  but  what  you  don't,  and  in  the  latter 
case  you  will  learn  exactly  what  stands  in  the  way  of 
your  getting  the  meaning. 

Taste  has  been  ascribed  to  all  portions  of  the  mouth 
from  the  lips  to  the  stomach,  but  is  properly  confined  to 
those  portions  of  the  tongue  and  soft  palate  furnished 
with  taste-buds.  Experiments  have  been  directed 
towards  ascertaining  whether  certain  tastes  are  confined 
or  not  to  certain  portions  of  the  organ.  The  result  is 
somewhat  in  doubt,  but  it  is  generally  believed  that  bitter 
is  best  tasted  on  the  soft  palate  and  back  of  the  tongue, 
and  sweet  and  sour  on  the  tip. 

If  you  have  read  that  discussion  carefully,  you 
have  got  the  gist  of  it.  Now,  in  the  next  paragraph 
the  difficulties  are  much  greater,  though  the  facts  arc 
no  less  interesting. 

The  classification  of  tastes  can  be  reduced  to  four: 
sweet,  sour,  bitter,  and  salt.  Pungent  tastes  must  be 
excluded :  as  must  also  alkaline,  astringent,  and  metallic 
tastes,  which  seem  to  be  combinations  of  touch,  taste,  and 
smell.  Many  so-called  tastes,  like  that  of  onions,  are 
properly  odors.  The  specific  taste  that  distinguishes 
one  body  from  another,  as  an  apple  from  an  orange,  is 
not  taste  proper,  but  a  combination  of  various  sensory 
properties. 


HO    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

I  am  sure  many  people  would  say  that  is  too  hard ; 
only  for  learned  scholars;  dry-as-dust;  not  worth 
studying  out,  anyhow.  Let  us  see.  The  first  sentence 
is  easy,  but  when  we  read  the  first  clause  of  the  second 
sentence  we  stop  because  we  do  not  know  the  meaning 
of  "pungent  tastes."  What  are  "pungent  tastes"? 
If  someone  were  to  ask  us  what  tastes  must  be  ex- 
cluded in  our  classification  we  might  answer  correctly, 
"pungent  tastes,"  but  we  should  only  be  deceiving 
ourselves  if  we  thought  that  the  answer  meant  any- 
thing. It  is  only  when  some  one  tells  us  that  a  pungent 
taste  is  a  sharp,  or  biting  taste,  like  that  of  pepper  or 
mustard,  that  we  begin  to  understand  what  pungent 
tastes  are.  Then  we  ask  ourselves  why  must  pungent 
tastes  be  excluded,  and  it  is  possible  we  may  not  be 
able  to  tell.  Let  us  leave  it  then,  for  a  while,  and  take 
up  the  next  clause,  which  divides  itself  into  groups 
about  as  follows:  "as  must  also  alkaline, 

astringent,  and  metallic  tastes,  which  seem 

to  be  combinations  of  touch,  taste,  and  smell." 

What  is  an  alkaline  taste?  an  astringent  taste?  a 
metallic  taste?  The  dictionary  can  help  us  only  to  a 
certain  extent.  It  is  not  enough  to  know  that  to  be 
astringent  is,  as  the  dictionary  tells  us,  to  have  the 
power  "to  contract  or  draw  together  soft  organic 
tissues" ;  we  must  have  had  some  experience  of  an 
astringent  taste.  But  when  some  one  reminds  us  that 
we  did  have  that  experience  when  we  tasted  the  skins 
of  pecan  nuts,  or  green  persimmons,  or,  more  com- 
monly still,  tea  that  has  been  steeped  too  long,  we 
see  that  an  astringent  taste  is  merely  an  unusual  name 


DENOTATION  HI 

for  a  very  common  experience.  But  why  must  an 
astringent  taste  be  excluded?  When  we  answer  that 
question  we  answer  also  the  question  why  pungent 
tastes  must  be  excluded.  And  here  the  author's  final 
group  helps  us  out :  because  "they  seem  to  be  combina- 
tions of  three  senses."  One  really  feels  the  burning 
sensation  of  pepper  and  mustard.  One  feels  the  pucker 
of  the  lips  and  tongue  after  drinking  over-steeped  tea. 
And  again  we  have  learned  that  many  groups  con- 
taining unfamiliar  words  may  really  be  describing  very 
familiar  ideas  and  experiences.  In  the  next  sentence 
the  author  speaks  of  "so-called  tastes."  A  moment's 
reflection  will  show  us  what  he  means ;  but  how  inter- 
esting it  is  when  we  get  (what  he  has  not  given  us 
before)  a  clear  illustration  of  a  "so-called"  taste.  He 
tells  us  that  what  we  call  the  taste  of  an  onion  is  really 
its  odor. 

The  final  sentence  would  be  grouped  about  as  fol- 
lows :    "The  specific  taste  that  distinguishes  one  body 
from  another          (as  an  apple  from  an  orange), 
is  not  taste  proper,  but  a  combination  of  various 

sensory  properties."  What  is  a  specific  taste?  When 
you  have  answered  the  question  you  can  test  the  cor- 
rectness of  your  answer  by  asking  yourself,  "Do  I 
know  what  is  the  specific  taste  of  an  apple?  or  of  an 
orange?"  Now,  we  have  always  called  this  specific 
taste  a  "taste  proper,"  that  is,  a  real  taste,  yet  the 
author  says  that  we  have  been  wrong :  "It  is,"  he  says, 
"a  combination  of  various  sensory  properties."  Do 
we  understand  him?  If  not,  why  not?  Because  we 
do  not  know  what  "sensory  properties"  means?  Then 


112    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

someone  tells  us  "sensory"  means  pertaining  to  the 
senses,  such  as  touch,  smell,  etc.  Now  the  group's 
meaning  is  clear,  and  we  understand  the  whole  sen- 
tence,  which  means  that  what  we  call  the  taste  of,  let 
us  say,  an  apple,  is  not  a  pure  taste,  but  a  combina- 
tion of  a  sweet  or  a  sour  taste  with  perhaps  an  agree- 
able odor,  and  a  certain  sense  of  hardness,  or  softness, 
or  mealiness,  or  juiciness. 

The  chief  value  of  this  exercise  is  that  now  the 
student  knows  what  he  knows.  He  sees  where  his  diffi- 
culty has  been,  and  if  someone  should  challenge  his 
interpretation  he  can  defend  it  without  fear  of 
being  caught  off  his  guard.  And  if  in  the  course  of 
the  discussion  it  should  appear  that  his  interpretation 
is  open  to  doubt,  he  is  in  excellent  position  to  listen  to 
argument  and  accept  correction  if  he  is  proved  in  the 
wrong.  But  I  believe  that  more  important  than  all  is 
the  fact  that  such  a  procedure  as  we  have  gone 
through  shows  the  student  exactly  where  he  needs  help, 
and  he  cannot  then  delude  himself  that  Denotation 
doesn't  matter,  or  that  the  author  is  obscure,  or,  in 
class  work,  that  so  long  as  the  teacher  doesn't  ask  any 
questions  about  that  particular  sentence,  nothing  else 
counts. 

If  these  paragraphs  seem  hard,  compare  them  with 
numberless  paragraphs  in  textbooks  used  in  high 
schools  and  see  how  much  less  difficult  they  are.  A 
passage  illustrating  some  difficulty  has  been  chosen  on 
purpose  to  show  you  how  to  study,  and  to  prove  that 
a  passage  that  looks  very  hard  may  prove  to  be  fairly 
easy  if  you  go  at  it  in  the  right  way.  Many  of  the 


DENOTATION  113 

ideas  described  in  the  printed  page  are  really  not  new 
to  you,  but  since  you  never  described  them  in  the  way 
the  author  does,  since  you  may  never  have  used  the 
same  words  that  he  does,  you  frequently  do  not  under- 
stand him  until  you  become  used  to  his  language.  It 
cannot  be  said  too  often  that  after  you  have  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words  and  of  the  group,  or  groups,  you 
may  then  be  in  possession  only  of  the  tools  to  work 
with.  The  test  is  whether  you  know  the  meaning  of 
the  sentence.  Have  you  the  thought,  the  idea,  the 
picture?  Call  it  what  you  will,  do  you  understand? 
And  if  you  don't,  why  not  ?  Is  it  a  word,  or  a  phrase, 
or  a  comma,  or  the  construction  that  stands  between 
you  and  the  author?  Do  you  know  WHY  you  don't 
know  ?  Your  first  experience  with  new  words  and  new 
constructions  is  the  crucial  one.  The  dictionary  or  n 
friend  will  help  you  get  the  meaning,  and  after  that 
the  word  or  expression  is  part  of  your  vocabulary  and 
no  longer  bothers  you  in  your  reading.  The  danger 
is  that  you  may  not  ask  for  help,  and  rest  content  with 
a  vague  understanding,  or  with  none. 

You  may  ask  "Must  I  be  deprived  of  the  pleasure 
of  reading  a  poem  or  a  story  simply  because  I  can't 
get  every  picture?"  or,  "Can't  I  get  enjoyment  from 
a  speech  or  a  play  unless  I  know  what  every  word  in  it 
means?"  or,  "Must  I  look  up  the  meaning  of  every 
word  in  my  history,  or  literature  lesson  in  order  to 
master  it?"  Let  me  try  to  answer  you. 

It  is  impossible  in  the  course  of  our  daily  reading 
to  look  up  the  meaning  of  every  word,  and  since  we 
are  seldom  called  to  account  for  meanings,  we  are 


114    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

content  to  go  on  without  them.  If  we  happen  to  miss 
the  drift  of  a  whole  paragraph  through  failure  to  get 
the  denotation  of  a  word,  well,  it  doesn't  happen 
often  and  better  luck  next  time.  Then  if  we  come 
across  a  word  often  enough  we  somehow  or  other  get 
a  pretty  clear  conception  of  its  meaning  after  a  while ; 
and  so  again  we  are  content  to  take  chances  in  increas- 
ing our  vocabulary,  and  sometimes  we  win  and  more 
often  we  lose. 

Now,  as  I  said  before,  you  are  hardly  expected  to  get 
the  denotation  of  every  word  in  every  sentence,  but 
where  are  we  to  draw  the  line?  Surely  when  you, 
write  you  expect  to  be  understood,  and  if  the  reader 
happens  not  to  know  the  meaning  of  a  certain  word, 
it  is  possible  you  may  fail  utterly  in  your  purpose. 
If  you  say,  "Our  trip  was  spoiled  because  the  car- 
buretor didn't  work,"  your  friend  may  learn  that  your 
trip  was  spoiled  because  something  or  other  didn't 
work,  and  that  information  may  suffice ;  but  he  will 
never  really  know  what  the  trouble  was.  And  if  you 
write  that  he  can  find  a  given  line  of  The  Merchant 
of  Venice  in  an  unexpurgated  edition,  and  he  ignores 
the  "unexpurgated,"  he  will  hunt  forever  through  an 
expurgated  text  without  finding  the  line. 

And  so  we  go  on  content  with  a  meagre  vocabulary, 
until  we  leave  school  with  no  power  to  interpret  the 
printed  page,  and  what  is  worse,  with  no  particular 
interest  in  it.  Now  what  is  one  to  do?  The  answer 
can't  be  absolute.  The  great  need  is,  however,  to  read 
everything  with  some  care  and  then  decide  what  words 
or  expressions  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  understand 


DENOTATION  115 

in  order  not  to  miss  the  vital  points.  It  depends  on  the 
object  we  have  in  mind  when  we  read. 

Is  it  entertainment  ?  Well,  one  doesn't  need  to  know 
every  word  in  order  to  enjoy  Silas  Marner  or  Ivanhoe 
or  Julius  Caesar.  But  how  many  words  can  be  ig- 
nored? Can  we  enjoy  a  novel  and  know  but  three- 
quarters  of  the  words?  half  the  words?  What  is  the 
lowest  limit?  The  danger  of  it  all  is  that  we  get  to 
believe  that  reading  for  entertainment  is  like  going  to 
the  "movies,"  where  we  pay  our  dimes,  sit  down,  let 
our  brains  go  to  sleep,  and  the  pictures  do  the  rest. 

But  in  serious  reading — history,  literature,  science 
— one  often  carries  over  into  it  the  loose  habits  ac- 
quired in  reading  for  pleasure.  Then  the  trouble  be- 
gins, for  it  may  be  the  most  serious  of  matters  if  one 
fails  to  get  the  force  of  a  certain  word,  or  group,  or 
sentence.  What  then?  Of  course  in  some  cases  one 
sees  that  he  must  get  the  meaning:  the  teacher  tells 
him  he  will  be  examined  on  it;  or  there  is  something 
he  must  do  which  can't  be  done  unless  he  understands 
a  particular  passage.  And  it  all  comes  back  at  last 
to  deciding  whether  one  really  understands  the  sen- 
tence, and  if  one  does  not,  whether  he  thinks  it's  neces- 
sary for  his  enjoyment  or  information  to  find  out  what 
it  means.  Most  articles  in  the  popular  fiction  and  news- 
papers are  written  for  busy,  hurried  people,  and 
students  must  not  forget  that  great  literature,  history, 
and  science  cannot  be  written  in  popular  style.  I  am 
almost  prepared  to  state  that  instead  of  the  careful 
study  of  the  page  in  school  helping  us  to  get  more  out 
of  the  newspaper,  our  careless  slipshod  reading  of 


116    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

the  newspaper  is  more  likely  to  unfit  us  for  reading 
literature  and  the  textbooks  of  the  schoolroom. 

It  does  not  follow  that  because  you  know  the  mean- 
ing of  the  individual  words  in  a  sentence  you  neces- 
sarily understand  the  meaning  of  the  whole  sentence. 
Denotation  in  the  sense  in  which  we  are  using  it  stands 
for  the  meaning  of  the  whole  as  well  as  of  a  single 
word:  the  term  applies  equally  to  the  period  and  the 
poem.  We  know  that  in  the  intercourse  of  everyday 
life  and  in  our  ordinary  reading  it  is  easy  to  get  the 
meaning.  And  yet  unless  we  are  on  our  guard  the 
very  simplicity  of  language  may  be  a  pitfall.  I  know 
a  class  of  students  who  failed  to  see  the  humor  in  a 
misprinted  passage  in  a  well-known  book,  which  read, 
"On  the  receipt  of  this  sad  news,  his  upper  jaw  fell." 
Professor  Arlo  Bates  quotes  this  example  of  careless- 
ness in  writing,  which  appeared  in  a  popular  mag- 
azine; but  I  think  many  a  student  might  fail  to  see 
the  nonsense  of  it  even  with  the  printed  word  before 
him:  "As  the  old  men  walked  toward  the  west 
in  the  still  afternoon,  one  of  them  pointed  first  to  the 
setting  sun  and  then  to  the  long  shadows  which  moved 
on  before  them." 

Even  Poe's  Raven  supplies  an  awful  warning.  I 
quote  the  closing  stanza.  You  recall  that  above  the 
poet's  door  is  a  bust  of  Pallas,  and  on  that  perches  the 
raven.  Now  says  Poe : 

And  the   Raven,  never   flitting,  still  is   sitting,   still  is 

sitting 
On  the  pallid  bust  of  Pallas  just  above  my  chamber 

door; 


DENOTATION  117 

And  his  eyes  have  all  the  seeming  of  a  demon's  that  is 

dreaming, 
And  the  lamplight  o'er  him  streaming  throws  his  shadow 

on  the  floor ; 
And  my  soul  from  out  that  shadow  that  lies  floating  on 

the  floor 

Shall  be  lifted — nevermore! 

How  could  the  lamplight  "stream  over  him"  in  such 
a  way  as  to  throw  the  raven's  shadow  on  the  floor? 
Where  would  the  lamp  have  to  be  to  do  that,  and  is  it 
likely  that  Poe's  lamp  was  there? 

In  the  second  place  there  is  scientific,  or  economic, 
or  historical  writing  that  needs  aggressive  attention 
and  some  hard  thinking.  We  have  had  examples  of 
this,  and  we  need  dwell  no  longer  on  this  aspect. 

But  the  third  category  is  by  no  means  to  be  neg- 
lected. Here  is  Tennyson's  The  Eagle — only  six  lines 
("Fragment,"  the  poet  calls  it)  and  no  story,  no 
moral  in  it,  nothing  but  beautiful  pictures,  which  you 
must  see : 

He  clasps  the  crag  with  crooked  hands ; 
Close  to  the  sun  in  lonely  lands, 
Ring'd  with  the  azure  world,  he  stands. 

The  wrinkled  sea  beneath  him  crawls ; 
He  watches  from  his  mountain  walls, 
And  like  a  thunderbolt  he  falls. 

You  must  build  up  the  scene,  step  by  step.  The 
title  tells  you  who  the  "He"  is.  And  you  know 
enough  about  eagles  to  understand  what  the  first  line 
is  about.  But  that  is  not  enough  in  this  case.  You 
must  see.  The  second  line  is  incomplete,  and  you 


118    INTEBPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

must  wait  for  the  end  of  the  third  line  before  you 
can  start  to  build  up  your  next  picture ;  or  at  best  you 
can  only  be  gathering  material,  so  to  speak,  for  the 
picture.  Now  we  must  go  back.  What  does  "Ring'd 
with  the  azure  world"  mean?  It  isn't  sufficient  to 
answer,  "Surrounded  by  the  blue  sky" ;  you  must  see 
it.  But  even  when  you  do  there  is  one  little  word  that 
you  may  have  missed:  "Close."  How  could  he  be 
"close"  to  the  sun?  But  I  leave  you  now  to  the  joy 
of  finishing  the  poem,  convinced,  as  I  hope  you  are, 
that  the  poet  intended  you  to  see  and  enjoy,  even  as 
he  did. 

Let  me  suggest  a  test.  Tennyson  saw  his  picture 
clearly.  To  prove  whether  you  see  it  with  equal  clear- 
ness, suppose  yourself  a  painter  putting  this  picture 
on  canvas.  What  colors  would  you  use?  Where 
would  you  put  the  crag?  the  eagle?  the  sun?  Of 
course  you  couldn't  paint  all  the  picture,  but  the  still 
life  you  could  put  on  canvas. 

Just  when  it  is  necessary  to  follow  the  text  closely, 
to  weigh  each  word  and  group,  to  see  the  complete 
picture,  and  when,  on  the  other  hand,  only  to  "sense," 
as  it  were,  its  meaning,  cannot  be  set  down  with  cer- 
tainty ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  in  a  large  part 
of  great  literature  the  author  writes  that  we  may  see 
all  that  he  saw  and  share  with  him  the  beauty  he  de- 
scribes. Let  us  close  by  giving  examples  of  such 
writing : 

I  linger'd  there 

Till  every  daisy  slept,  and  Love's  white  star 
Beara'd  thro'  the  thicken'd  cedar  in  the  dusk. 

—TENNYSON:    The  Gardener's  Daughter. 


DENOTATION  119 

The  next  passage,  from  the  same  poem,  is  much 
more  difficult,  apparently  so  hard  tliat  most  would  pass 
it  by.  And  yet  how  beautiful  the  picture !  One  which 
you  would  stop  long  to  look  at  were  it  hanging 
in  an  art  gallery.  There  are  few  hard  words  and 
nothing  particularly  hard  in  the  thought.  It  is  the 
length  and  complexity  of  the  sentence,  and  the  need 
of  building  up  the  picture  group  by  group  that  make 
the  passage  seem  so  difficult. 

For  up  the  porch  there  grew  an  Eastern  rose, 
That,  flowering  high,  the  last  night's  gale  had  caught. 
And  blown  across  the  walk.    One  arm  aloft — 
Gown'd  in  pure  white,  that  fitted  to  the  shape — 
Holding  the  bush,  to  fix  it  back,  she  stood, 
A  single  stream  of  all  her  soft  brown  hair 
Pour'd  on  one  side:  the  shadow  of  the  flowers 
Stole  all  the  golden  gloss,  and,  wavering 
Lovingly  lower,  trembled  on  her  waist — 
Ah,  happy  shade — and  still  went  wavering  down, 
But,  ere  it  touch'd  a  foot,  that  might  have  danced 
The  greensward  into  greener  circles,  dipt, 
And  mix'd  with  shadows  of  the  common  ground ! 

Here  is  some  matter  that  requires  closest  attention 
to  follow.  It  deals  with  science,  religion,  psychology, 
law,  and  other  subjects  without  a  story  in  them,  and 
not  appealing  very  strongly,  at  any  rate  not  at  once, 
to  our  curiosity  and  desire  for  knowledge.  Yet  any 
man  or  woman  with  the  slightest  pretension  to  educa- 
tion should  be  able  to  read  without  too  great  a  strain 
such  matter  as  I  refer  to.  An  author  is  speaking  of 
the  difficulty  of  judging  sometimes  whether  an  act  is 
right  or  wrong.  The  passage  looks  hard.  It  is 


120    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

printed  solid.  There  is  no  dialogue  in  it ;  and  yet  it  is 
packed  full  of  interest.  The  title  wouldn't  be  a  good 
one  for  a  popular  magazine  article,  but  many  a  time 
you  have  had  experience  with  that  very  "intricacy." 
Have  you  not  often  been  puzzled  in  trying  to  pass 
honest  judgment  on  the  act  of  some  fellow  student? 
Have  you  yourself  not  been  wronged  by  student, 
teacher,  and  even  parent,  largely  because  they  were 
judging  you  by  one  standard,  while  you  felt  you 
should  be  judged  by  another?  Well,  the  moral  judg- 
ment was  not  easy  to  pass  because  there  were  so  many 
factors  entering  into  your  case.  So  you  see  again, 
"Intricacy  of  Moral  Judgments"  is  only  an  educated 
man's  title  for  a  subject  all  of  us  have  had  much 
experience  with. 

INTRICACY  OF  MORAL  JUDGMENTS 

If  we  attempt  to  reduce  this  discussion  to  its  psycho- 
logical terms,  we  may  make  some  such  statement  as  the 
following:  No  person  is  in  a  position  to  pass  judgment 
upon  the  moral  character  of  any  act  unless  he  under- 
stands thoroughly  all  of  the  conditions  which  surround 
the  act.  In  order  to  understand  historical  relations 
fully  one  needs  to  have  such  a  view  of  the  historical 
situation  as  it  is  extremely  difficult  for  a  modern  stu- 
dent to  acquire.  The  modern  student  is,  in  the  first 
place,  guided  in  all  of  his  judgments  by  an  established 
mode  of  thought  which  is  peculiar  to  his  own  genera- 
tion. We  have  certain  notions  in  this  day  about  the 
treatment  of  colonies,  for  example,  that  are  wholly  dif- 
ferent from  the  notions  that  obtained  at  the  time  that 
England  was  in  controversy  with  her  American  colonies. 
The  notions  that  we  now  entertain  are  the  results  of  long 


DENOTATION  121 

historical  periods  which  have  recorded  themselves  in  the 
literature  and  language  of  our  people.  The  youth  of 
today  is  introduced  directly  to  these  political  and  ethical 
ideas  without  any  special  reference  to  the  earlier  con- 
troversies out  of  which  the  present  notions  have  grown. 
When,  therefore,  he  is  suddenly  carried  back  in  his  his- 
torical studies  to  situations  that  differ  altogether  from 
the  situations  that  now  confront  him,  he  is  likely  to 
carry  back,  without  being  fully  aware  of  the  fallacy  of 
his  procedure,  those  standards  of  judgment  and  canons 
of  ethical  thought  which  constitute  his  present  inherit- 
ance. He  judges,  in  other  words,  by  modern  standards, 
situations  which  are  in  character  wholly  different  from 
those  of  today. — JUDD  :  Psychology  of  High-School  Sub- 
jects. 

( I  purposely  chose  a  paragraph  that  was  not  easy ; 
that  required  careful  attention ;  that  meant  looking  up 
new  words,  and  making  some  careful  grouping.  But 
if  you  have  mastered  that  paragraph,  have  you  not 
done  something  splendidly  worth  while  ?  as  worth  while, 
and  under  some  conditions  far  more  worth  while,  than 
finishing  a  task  in  the  shop  or  laboratory?) 

REVIEW  EXERCISES 

Among  the  following  exercises  will  be  found  ex- 
amples of  two  kinds  of  problems:  those  dealing  with 
picture  making;  and  those  dealing  with  the  difficulty 
of  the  language,  style,  and  ideas. 

The  steer  forgot  to  graze, 

And,  where  the  hedge-row  cuts  the  pathway,  stood, 
Leaning  his  horns  into  the  neighbor  field, 
And  lowing  to  his  fellows. 

— TENNYSON:   The  Gardener's  Daughter. 


122    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Short  of  stature,  large  of  limb, 
Burly  face  and  russet  beard, 
All  the  women  stared  at  him, 
When  in  Iceland  he  appeared. 

"Look !"  they  said, 

With  nodding  head, 
"There  goes  Thangbrand,  Olaf's  Priest." 

— LONGFELLOW  :  Thangbrand  the  Priest. 

And  Sohrab  came  there,  and  went  in,  and  stood 
Upon  the  thick  piled  carpets  in  the  tent. 

— ARNOLD  :  Sohrab  and  Rustum. 

What  picture  do  you  get?     Well,  you  are  wrong. 
Look  up  "pile"  in  the  dictionary. 

The  gray  sea  and  the  long  black  land ; 
And  the  yellow  half-moon  large  and  low ; 
And  the  startled  little  waves  that  leap 
In  fiery  ringlets  from  their  sleep, 
As  I  gain  the  cove  with  pushing  prow, 
And  quench  its  speed  i'  the  slushy  sand. 

Then  a  mile  of  warm  sea-scented  beach ; 
Three  fields  to  cross  till  a  farm  appears; 
A  tap  at  the  pane,  the  quick  sharp  scratch 
And  blue  spurt  of  a  lighted  match, 
And  a  voice  less  loud,  thro'  its  joys  and  fears, 
And  the  two  hearts  beating  each  to  each ! 

— BROWNING:  Meeting  at  Night. 

Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity, 

Which,  like  the  toad,  ugly  and  venomous, 

Wears  yet  a  precious  j  ewel  in  his  head ; 

And  this  our  life  exempt  from  public  haunt 

Finds  tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 

Sermons  in  stones  and  good  in  every  thing. 

— As  You  Like  It,  II,  i. 


DENOTATION  123 

Jaques.  All  the  world's  a  stage, 

And  all  the  men  and  women  merely  players: 
They  have  their  exits  and  their  entrances; 
And  one  man  in  his  time  plays  many  parts, 
His  acts  being  seven  ages.     At  first  the  infant, 
Mewling  and  puking  in  the  nurse's  arms. 
And  then  the  whining  school-boy,  with  his  satchel 
And  shining  morning  face,  creeping  like  snail 
Unwillingly  to  school.     And  then  the  lover, 
Sighing  like  furnace,  with  a  woeful  ballad 
Made  to  his  mistress'  eyebrow.     Then  a  soldier, 
Full  of  strange  oaths  and  bearded  like  the  pard, 
Jealous  in  honour,  sudden  and  quick  in  quarrel, 
Seeking  the  bubble  reputation 

Even  in  the  cannon's  mouth.     And  then  the  justice, 
In  fair  round  belly  with  good  capon  lined, 
With  eyes  severe  and  beard  of  formal  cut, 
Full  of  wise  saws  and  modern  instances ; 
And  so  he  plays  his  part.     The  sixth  age  shifts 
Into  the  lean  and  slipper'd  pantaloon, 
With  spectacles  on  nose  and  pouch  on  side, 
His  youthful  hose,  well  saved,  a  world  too  wide 
For  his  shrunk  shank ;  and  his  big  manly  voice, 
Turning  again  toward  childish  treble,  pipes 
And  whistles  in  his  sound.     Last  scene  of  all, 
That  ends  this  strange  eventful  history, 
Is  second  childishness  and  mere  oblivion, 
Sans  teeth,  sans  eyes,  sans  taste,  sans  every  thing. 

— Ibid.,  II,  vii. 

Rosalind.  Time  travels  in  divers  paces  with  divers 
persons.  I'll  tell  you  who  Time  ambles  withal,  who 
Time  trots  withal,  who  Time  gallops  withal  and  who  he 
stands  still  withal. 

Orlando.    I  prithee,  who  doth  he  trot  withal  ? 

Rosalind.  Marry,  he  trots  hard  with  a  young  maid 
between  the  contract  of  her  marriage  and  the  day  it  is 


124    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

solemnized:    if  the  interim  be  but  a  se'nnight,  Time's 
pace  is  so  hard  that  it  seems  the  length  of  seven  year. 

Orlando.    Who  ambles  Time  withal? 

Rosalind.  With  a  priest  that  lacks  Latin  and  a  rich 
man  that  hath  not  the  gout,  for  the  one  sleeps  easily 
because  he  cannot  study  and  the  other  lives  merrily 
because  he  feels  no  pain,  the  one  lacking  the  burden  of 
lean  and  wasteful  learning,  the  other  knowing  no  burden 
of  heavy  tedious  penury;  these  Time  ambles  withal. 

Orlando.    Who  doth  he  gallop  withal? 

Rosalind.  With  a  thief  to  the  gallows,  for  though  he 
go  as  softly  as  foot  can  fall,  he  thinks  himself  too  soon 
there. 

Orlando.    Who  stays  it  still  withal? 

Rosalind.  With  lawyers  in  the  vacation;  for  they 
sleep  between  term  and  term  and  then  they  perceive  not 
how  Time  moves. 

— Ibid.,  Ill,  ii. 

Under  an  oak,  whose  boughs  were  moss'd  with  age 

And  high  top  bald  with  dry  antiquity, 

A  wretched  ragged  man,  o'ergrown  with  hair, 

Lay  sleeping  on  his  back :  about  his  neck 

A  green  and  gilded  snake  had  wreathed  itself, 

Who  with  her  head  nimble  in  threats  approach'd 

The  opening  of  his  mouth ;  but  suddenly, 

Seeing  Orlando,  it  unlink'd  itself, 

And  with  indented  glides  did  slip  away 

Into  a  bush:  under  which  bush's  shade 

A  lioness,  with  udders  all  drawn  dry, 

Lay  couching,  head  on  ground,  with  catlike  watch, 

When  that  the  sleeping  man  should  stir ;  for  'tis 

The  royal  disposition  of  that  beast 

To  prey  on  nothing  that  doth  seem  as  dead : 

This  seen,  Orlando  did  approach  the  man 

And  found  it  was  his  brother,  his  elder  brother. 

— Ibid.,  IV,  iii. 


DENOTATION  125 

Then  murmur'd  Arthur,  "Place  me  in  the  barge." 
So  to  the  barge   they   came.      There  those   three 

Queens 

Put  forth  their  hands,  and  took  the  King,  and  wept. 
But  she,  that  rose  the  tallest  of  them  all 
And  fairest,  laid  his  head  upon  her  lap, 
And  loosed  the   shatter'd   casque,   and   chafed    his 

hands, 

And  call'd  him  by  his  name,  complaining  loud, 
And  dropping  bitter  tears  against  a  brow 
Striped  with  dark  blood :  for  all  his  face  was  white 
And  colourless,  and  like  the  wither'd  moon 
Smote  by  the  fresh  beam  of  the  springing  east ; 
And  all  his  greaves  and  cuisses  dash'd  with  drops 
Of  onset;  and  the  light  and  lustrous  curls — 
That  made  his  forehead  like  a  rising  sun 
High  from  the  dais-throne — were  parch'd  with  dust ; 
Or  clotted  into  points  and  hanging  loose, 
Mix'd  with  the  knightly  growth  that   fringed   his 

lips. 

So  like  a  shatter'd  column  lay  the  King; 
Not  like  that  Arthur  who,  with  lance  in  rest, 
From  spur  to  plume  a  star  of  tournament, 
Shot  thro'  the  lists  at  Camelot,  and  charged 
Before  the  eyes  of  ladies  and  of  kings. 

—TENNYSON:    The  Passing  of  Arthur. 

So  said  he,  and  the  barge  with  oar  and  sail 

Moved  from  the  brink,  like  some  full-breasted  swan 

That,  fluting  a  wild  carol  ere  her  death, 

Ruffles  her  pure  cold  plume,  and  takes  the  flood 

With  swarthy  webs.     Long  stood  Sir  Bedivere 

Revolving  many  memories,  till  the  hull 

Look'd  one  black  dot  against  the  verge  of  dawn, 

And  on  the  mere  the  wailing  died  away. 

— Ibid. 


126    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

As  when  a  boar 

Or  lion  mid  the  hounds  and  huntsmen  stands, 
Fearfully  strong,  and  fierce  of  eye,  and  they 
In  square  array  assault  him,  and  their  hands 
Fling  many  a  javelin; — yet  his  noble  heart 
Fears  not,  nor  does  he  fly,  although  at  last 
His  courage  cause  his  death ;  and  oft  he  turns, 
And  tries  their  ranks ;  and  where  he  makes  a  rush 
The  ranks  give  way; — so  Hector  moved  and  turned 
Among  the  crowd,  and  bade  his  followers  cross 
The  trench. 

— The  Iliad  (Bryant's  translation). 

How  sweet  the  moonlight  sleeps  upon  this  bank ! 
Here  will  we  sit  and  let  the  sound  of  music 
Creep  in  our  ears:  soft  stillness  and  the  night 
Become  the  touches  of  sweet  harmony. 
Sit,  Jessica.     Look  how  the  floor  of  heaven 
Is  thick  inlaid  with  patines  of  bright  gold : 
There's  not  the  smallest  orb  which  thou  behold 'st 
But  in  his  motion  like  an  angel  sings, 
Still  quiring  to  the  young-eyed  cherubims ; 
Such  harmony  is  in  immortal  souls ; 
But  whilst  this  muddy  vesture  of  decay 
Doth  grossly  close  it  in,  we  can  not  hear  it. 

— Merchant  of  Venice,  V,  i. 

In  person,  Caesar  was  tall  and  slight.  His  features 
were  more  refined  than  was  usual  in  Roman  faces.  The 
forehead  was  wide  and  high,  the  nose  large  and  thin,  the 
lips  full,  the  eyes  dark  gray  like  an  eagle's,  the  neck 
extremely  thick  and  sinewy.  His  complexion  was  pale. 
His  beard  and  mustache  were  kept  carefully  shaved. 
His  hair  was  short  and  naturally  scanty,  falling  off 
toward  the  end  of  his  life  and  leaving  him  partially 
bald.  His  voice,  especially  when  he  spoke  in  public, 
was  high  and  shrill. — FROUDE  :  Julius  Caesar. 


DENOTATION  127 

In  person,  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  above  the  middle 
height,  perfectly  well  made  and  sinewy,  but  rather 
spare  than  stout.  His  eyes,  hair,  beard,  and  complexion 
were  brown.  His  head  was  small,  symmetrically  shaped, 
combining  the  alertness  and  compactness  characteristic 
of  the  soldier,  with  the  capacious  brow  furrowed  pre- 
maturely with  the  horizontal  lines  of  thought,  denoting 
the  statesman  and  the  sage. — MOTLEY:  Character  of 
William  of  Orange. 

One  mast  was  broken  short  off,  six  or  eight  feet  from 
the  deck,  and  lay  over  on  the  side,  entangled  in  a  maze 
of  sail  and  rigging;  and  in  that  ruin,  as  the  ship  rolled 
and  beat, — which  she  did  with  a  violence  quite  incon- 
ceivable,— beat  the  side  as  if  it  would  stave  it  in.  Some 
efforts  were  being  made  to  cut  this  portion  of  the  wreck 
away;  for  as  the  ship,  which  was  broadside  on,  turned 
toward  us  in  her  rolling,  I  plainly  descried  her  people 
at  work  with  axes — especially  one  active  figure,  with 
long  curling  hair.  But  a  great  cry,  audible  even  above 
the  wind  and  water,  rose  from  the  shore ;  the  sea,  sweep- 
ing over  the  wreck,  made  a  clean  breach,  and  carried 
men,  spars,  casks,  planks,  bulwarks, — heaps  of  such 
toys,  into  the  boiling  surge. — DICKENS:  David  Copper- 
field. 

The  Moon  arose :  she  shone  upon  the  lake, 
Which  lay  one  smooth  expanse  of  silver  light ; 
She  shone  upon  the  hills  and  rocks,  and  cast 
Upon  their  hollows  and  their  hidden  glens 
A  blacker  depth  of  shade. 

— SOUTHEY:   Madoc. 

I  will  tell  you. 

The  barge  she  sat  in,  like  a  burnish'd  throne, 
Burn'd  on  the  water :  the  poop  was  beaten  gold ; 
Purple  the  sails,  and  so  perfumed  that 


128    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

The  winds   were  love-sick   with  them;    the  oars   were 

silver, 

Which  to  the  tune  of  flutes  kept  stroke,  and  made 
The  water  which  they  beat  to  follow  faster, 
As  amorous  of  their  strokes.     For  her  own  person, 
It  beggar'd  all  description:   she  did  lie 
In  her  pavilion — cloth-of-gold  of  tissue — 
O'er-picturing  that  Venus  where  we  see 
The  fancy  outwork  nature:  on  each  side  her 
Stood  pretty  dimpled  boys,  like  smiling  Cupids, 
With  divers-color'd  fans,  whose  wind  did  seem 
To  glow  the  delicate  cheeks  which  they  did  cool, 
And  what  they  undid,  did. 

— Antony  and  Cleopatra,  II,  ii. 

The  numerous  letters  in  the  newspapers  urging  con- 
scription; the  pointed  demand  by  Unionist  leaders  that 
conscription  be  resorted  to;  the  reports  of  correspond- 
ents on  the  apparent  indifference  of  the  masses  to  the 
great  issue — all  these  indicate  that  voluntary  enlistment 
has  not  brought  the  desired  results. 

The  next  four  paragraphs  are  inserted,  first,  be- 
cause they  so  strongly  support  the  contention  of  this 
whole  book,  and  secondly,  because  they  are  typical 
examples  of  literature  that  isn't  "easy,"  but  which 
is  nevertheless  full  of  interest  and  instruction  for  every 
student  who  is  fairly  serious-minded. 

Do  you  know,  if  you  read  this  [book] ,  that  you  cannot 
read  that;  that  what  you  lose  today  you  cannot  gain 
to-morrow?  Will  you  go  and  gossip  with  your  house- 
maid or  your  stable-boy,  when  you  may  talk  with 
queens  and  kings;  or  flatter  yourselves  that  it  is  with 
any  worthy  consciousness  of  your  own  claims  to  respect 
that  you  jostle  with  the  hungry  and  common  crowd  for 


DENOTATION  129 

entree  here,  and  audience  there,  when  all  the  while  this 
eternal  court  is  open  to  you,  with  its  society,  wide  as  the 
world,  multitudinous  as  its  days, — the  chosen  and  the 
mighty  of  every  place  and  time?  Into  that  you  may 
enter  always;  in  that  you  may  take  fellowship  and 
rank  accordingly  to  your  wish;  from  that,  once 
entered  into  it,  you  can  never  be  an  outcast  but  by  your 
own  fault;  by  your  aristocracy  of  companionship  there, 
your  own  inherent  aristocracy  will  be  assuredly  tested, 
and  the  motives  with  which  you  strive  to  take  high  place 
in  the  society  of  the  living,  measured  as  to  all  the  truth 
and  sincerity  that  are  in  them,  by  the  place  you  desire 
to  take  in  this  company  of  the  dead. — RUSKIN:  Of 
Kings'  Treasuries. 

And  be  sure  also,  if  the  author  is  worth  anything, 
that  you  will  not  get  at  his  meaning  all  at  once, — nay, 
that  at  his  whole  meaning  you  will  not  for  a  long  time 
arrive  in  anywise.  Not  that  he  does  not  say  what  he 
means,  and  in  strong  words  too;  but  he  cannot  say  it 
all,  and  what  is  more  strange,  will  not,  but  in  a  hidden 
way  and  in  parables,  in  order  that  he  may  be  sure  you 
want  it.  I  cannot  quite  see  the  reason  of  this,  nor 
analyze  that  cruel  reticence  in  the  breasts  of  wise  men 
which  makes  them  always  hide  their  deeper  thought. 
They  do  not  give  it  you  by  way  of  help,  but  of  reward, 
and  will  make  themselves  sure  that  you  deserve  it  before 
they  allow  you  to  reach  it.  But  it  is  the  same  with  the 
physical  type  of  wisdom,  gold.  There  seems,  to  you  and 
me,  no  reason  why  the  electric  forces  of  the  earth  should 
not  carry  whatever  there  is  of  gold  within  it  at  once  to 
the  mountain-tops;  so  the  kings  and  people  might  know 
that  all  the  gold  they  could  gej  was  there,  and  without 
any  trouble  of  digging,  or  anxiety,  or  chance,  or  waste 
of  time,  cut  it  away,  and  coin  as  much  as  they  needed. 
But  nature  does  not  manage  it  so.  She  puts  it  in  little 
fissures  in  the  earth,  nobody  knows  where.  You  may 


130    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

dig  long  and  find  none.     You  must  dig  painfully  to  find 
any. — Ibid. 

And  it  is  just  the  same  with  men's  best  wisdom. 
When  you  come  to  a  good  book,  you  must  ask  yourself, 
"Am  I  inclined  to  work  as  an  Australian  miner  would? 
Are  my  pickaxes  and  shovels  in  good  order,  and  am  I  in 
good  trim,  myself,  my  sleeves  well  up  to  the  elbow,  and 
my  breath  good,  and  my  temper?"  And  keeping  the 
figure  a  little  longer,  even  at  a  cost  of  tiresomeness,  for 
it  is  a  thoroughly  useful  one,  the  metal  you  are  in  search 
of  being  the  author's  mind  or  meaning,  his  words  are  as 
the  rock  which  you  have  to  crush  and  smelt  in  order  to 
get  at  it.  And  your  pickaxes  are  your  own  care,  wit, 
and  learning;  your  smelting  furnace  is  your  own 
thoughtful  soul.  Do  not  hope  to  get  at  any  good 
author's  meaning  without  those  tools  and  that  fire;  often 
you  will  need  sharpest,  finest  chiselling  and  patientest 
fusing  before  you  can  gather  one  grain  of  the  metal. — 
Ibid. 

And,  therefore,  first  of  all,  I  tell  you  earnestly  and 
authoritatively  (I  know  I  am  right  in  this)  you  must 
get  into  the  habit  of  looking  intensely  at  words,  and 
assuring  yourself  of  their  meaning,  syllable  by  syllable — 
nay,  letter  by  letter.  For  though  it  is  only  by  reason  of 
the  opposition  of  letters  in  the  function  of  signs  to  sounds 
in  the  function  of  signs,  that  the  study  of  books  is  called 
"literature,"  and  that  a  man  versed  in  it  is  called,  by 
the  consent  of  nations,  a  man  of  letters  instead  of  a  man 
of  books  or  of  words,  you  may  yet  connect  with  that 
accidental  nomenclature  this  real  fact, — that  you  might 
read  all  the  books  in  the  British  Museum  (if  you  could 
live  long  enough)  and  remain  an  utterly  "illiterate," 
uneducated  person;  but  that  if  you  read  ten  pages  of  a 
good  book,  letter  by  letter, — that  is  to  say,  with  real 
accuracy, — you  are  forevermore  in  some  measure  an 


DENOTATION  131 

educated  person.  The  entire  difference  between  educa- 
tion and  non-education  (as  regards  the  merely  intellec- 
tual part  of  it)  consists  in  this  accuracy.  A  well- 
educated  gentleman  may  not  know  many  languages,  may 
not  be  able  to  speak  any  but  his  own,  may  have  read 
very  few  books.  But  whatever  language  he  knows,  he 
knows  precisely;  whatever  word  he  pronounces,  he  pro- 
nounces rightly.  Above  all,  he  is  learned  in  the  peerage 
of  words,  knows  the  words  of  true  descent  and  ancient 
blood,  at  a  glance,  from  the  words  of  modern  canaille, 
remembers  all  their  ancestry,  their  intermarriages,  dis- 
tant relationships,  and  the  extent  to  which  they  were 
admitted,  and  offices  they  held,  among  the  national 
noblesse  of  words  at  any  time  and  in  any  country.  But 
an  uneducated  person  may  know,  by  memory,  many  lan- 
guages, and  talk  them  all,  and  yet  truly  know  not  a  word 
of  any, — not  a  word  even  of  his  own.  An  ordinarily 
clever  and  sensible  seaman  will  be  able  to  make  his  way 
ashore  at  most  ports,  yet  he  has  only  to  speak  a  sentence 
of  any  language  to  be  known  for  an  illiterate  person; 
so  also  the  accent,  or  turn  of  expression  of  a  single  sen- 
tence, will  at  once  mark  a  scholar.  And  this  is  so 
strongly  felt,  so  conclusive  admitted,  by  educated  per- 
sons, that  a  false  accent  or  a  mistaken  syllable  is  enough 
in  the  parliament  of  any  civilized  nation,  to  assign  to  a 
man  a  certain  degree  of  inferior  standing  forever. — Ibid. 

As  toilsome  I  wander'd  Virginia's  woods, 

To  the  music  of  rustling  leaves  kick'd  by  my  feet  (for 

'twas  autumn), 

I  mark'd  at  the  foot  of  a  tree  the  grave  of  a  soldier; 
Mortally  wounded  he  and  buried  on  the  retreat  (easily 

all  could  I  understand), 
The  halt  of  a  mid-day  hour,  when  up !  no  time  to  lose — 

yet  this  sign  left, 

On  a  tablet  scrawl'd  and  nail'd  on  the  tree  by  the  grave, 
Bold,  cautious,  true,  and  my  loving  comrade. 


132    INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Long,  long  I  muse,  then  on  my  way  go  wandering, 
Many  a  changeful  season  to  follow,  and  many  a  scene 

of  life, 
Yet  at  times  through  changeful  season  and  scene,  abrupt, 

alone,  or  in  the  crowded  street, 
Comes  before  me  the  unknown  soldier's  grave,  comes  the 

inscription  rude  in  Virginia's  woods, 
Bold,  cautious,  true,  and  my  loving  comrade. 
— WHITMAN:  As  Toilsome  I  Wander' d  Virginia's  Woods. 

In  the  books  you  use  in  connection  with  your  litera- 
ture, history,  civics,  etc.,  will  be  found  on  every  page 
opportunity  for  further  study  of  this  important  aspect 
of  interpretation. 

And  the  more  you  use  the  printed  page  in  connec- 
tion with  your  literature,  history,  civics,  etc.,  the  more 
will  you  appreciate  the  fact  that  Denotation  is  for 
you  at  the  present  time  the  most  vital  factor  in  your 
studies. 


CHAPTER  VII 

AN   EXERCISE   IN  ANALYSIS 

So  far  we  have  been  studying  separately  Grouping, 
Group  Sequence,  Group  Values,  Inversion,  and  Deno- 
tation. We  will  now  study  a  piece  of  literature  illus- 
trating all  these  principles  except  Subordination. 

The  following  is  taken  from  Tennyson's  Enoch 
Arden.  Enoch  Arden  has  been  shipwrecked,  and 
after  the  death  of  his  companions,  is  left  alone  on  an 
island  close  to  the  tropics.  Read  the  extract,  keeping 
in  mind  these  conditions : 

The  mountain  wooded  to  the  peak,  the  lawns 
And  winding  glades  high  up  like  ways  to  heaven, 
The  slender  coco's  drooping  crown  of  plumes, 
The  lightning  flash  of  insect  and  of  bird, 
The  lustre  of  the  long  convolvuluses 
That  coil'd  around  the  stately  stems,  and  ran 
Ev'n  to  the  limit  of  the  land,  the  glows 
And  glories  of  the  broad  belt  of  the  world, 
All  these  he  saw;  but  what  he  fain  had  seen 
He  could  not  see,  the  kindly  human  face, 
Nor  ever  hear  a  kindly  voice,  but  heard 
The  myriad  shriek  of  wheeling  ocean-fowl, 
The  league-long  roller  thundering  on  the  reef, 
The  moving  whisper  of  huge  trees  that  branch'd 
And  blossom'd  in  the  zenith,  or  the  sweep 
133 


134    INTEKPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Of  some  precipitous  rivulet  to  the  wave, 

As  down  the  shore  he  ranged,  or  all  day  long 

Sat  often   in  the  seaward-gazing  gorge, 

A  shipwreck'd  sailor,  waiting  for  a  sail. 

Unless  you  have  read  very  deliberately  you  have 
got  very  few  details  of  the  picture.  You  perhaps 
have  a  vague  idea  of  a  lonely  man  amid  great  scenic 
beauty,  and  a  fairly  vivid  picture  in  the  last  line  of 
the  shipwrecked  sailor  waiting  for  a  sail. 

There  is  not  much  story  in  the  extract  and,  there- 
fore, one  is  inclined  to  hurry  on  without  taking  time 
to  see  the  picture.  Let  us  now  take  up  the  lines  in 
detail,  beginning  with  the  groups,  referring  constantly 
to  the  text  during  the  entire  discussion: 

The  mountain  wooded  to  the  peak, 

the  lawns   And   winding  glades   high   up   like   ways   to 

heaven, 

The  slender  coco's  drooping  crown  of  plumes, 
The  lightning  flash  of  insect  and  of  bird, 
The  lustre  of  the  long  convolvuluses 
That  coil'd  around  the  stately  stems, 
and  ran  Ev'n  to  the  limit  of  the  land, 
the  glows  And  glories  of  the  broad  belt  of  the  world, 
All  these  he  saw; 

and  so  on.  Already  the  picture  is  becoming  clearer, 
and  yet  we  find  a  number  of  words  and  phrases  that 
have  no  meaning  for  us.  With  a  little  effort  we  see 
the  mountain  wooded  to  the  peak,  but  we  must  know 
that  "lawns"  as  used  here  does  not  mean  lawns  like 
those  in  front  of  our  homes,  but  "a  glade  or  open 
space  in  the  woods."  Now,  the  dictionary  tells  us 


AN  EXERCISE  IN  ANALYSIS  135 

further  that  a  glade  is  "a  clearing  or  open  space  in  a 
wood."  So  the  two  words  convey  about  the  same 
meaning;  and  we  must  picture  the  lawns  and  winding 
glades  high  up  like  ways  to  heaven.  The  next  line 
is  absolutely  meaningless  until  we  learn  that  "coco"  is 
"the  palm-tree  that  produces  cocoanuts :  cultivated  in 
all  tropical  regions.  It  has  a  branchless  stem  sixty 
to  ninety  feet  high,  above  which  are  feather-like  leaves 
eighteen  to  twenty  feet  long."  From  this  definition 
we  can  see  also  why  the  coco  is  called  slender,  and  why 
the  author  refers  to  the  "feather-like  leaves"  as 
"drooping  crown  of  plumes."  Why  the  poet  speaks 
of  the  "lightning  flash  of  insect  and  of  bird,"  you  can 
no  doubt  see  for  yourself ;  but  all  you  can  gather  from 
the  next  three  lines  is  that  something  or  other  has  a 
lustre  and  coils  around  stems  and  runs  all  over  the 
land.  When  we  discover  that  "convolvuluses"  are 
creeping  and  twining  herbs  with  extremely  showy, 
brilliant,  trumpet-shaped  flowers,  we  understand  why 
the  poet  speaks  of  "the  lustre"  and  of  "long  convol- 
vuluses," and  we  get  a  picture  of  the  long  vines,  some 
climbing  around  the  trees  and  others  running  all  over 
the  island  even  to  the  sea. 

What  does  "the  broad  belt  of  the  world"  mean? 
Is  it  the  horizon,  or  is  it  that  broad  belt  which  encircles 
the  world  and  is  called  the  tropical  zone?  Then,  what 
picture  do  you  get  of  the  "glows  and  glories"  of  this 
belt? 

With  a  little  thought  you  can  get  the  meaning  of  the 
next  five  lines,  but  in  the  line  "The  moving  whisper," 
etc.,  must  you  not  stop  long  enough  to  see  the  moving 


136    INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

leaves  and  hear  their  whispering  as  it  passes  from  tree 
to  tree,  and  to  ask  yourself  what  is  meant  by  trees 
"that  branch'd  and  blossom'd  in  the  zenith"  ?  We  learn 
that  the  zenith  is  a  term  used  in  astronomy  to  denote  the 
point  in  the  heavens  directly  overhead :  but  how  can  we 
speak  of  trees  that  branch  and  blossom  in  the 
zenith?  The  explanation  is  that  in  the  tropical  coun- 
tries many  trees,  like  the  coco,  rise  straight  and  tall 
and  do  not  begin  to  send  out  branches  until  they  are 
high  in  the  air. 

Why  does  the  author  speak  of  Enoch  Arden  as 
"ranging"  instead  of  "walking"?  Here,  again,  the 
picture  becomes  doubly  interesting  when  we  learn  that 
to  range  means  to  walk  to  and  fro  as  if  in  search  of 
something. 

We  have  now  prepared  ourselves  to  study  the  pic- 
ture as  a  whole.  We  know  the  meaning  of  the  words 
and  phrases,  and  have  determined  the  groups.  We 
have  the  parts  of  the  author's  picture  and  these  we 
must  now  put  together,  but  unless  we  are  careful  we 
may  lose  sight  of  the  picture  in  one  group  as  we  pass 
on  to  the  next.  In  the  line,  "The  mountain  wooded  to 
the  peak,"  we  get  a  picture,  but  there  is  no  statement 
made  concerning  it;  and  if  you  will  take  the  rest  of 
the  pictures  down  to  "the  glows  And  glories  of  the 
broad  belt  of  the  world,"  you  will  find  that  there  is  no 
predicate.  Then  come  the  words,  "All  these  he  saw," 
and  we  understand  that  "these"  refers  to  "the  moun- 
tain," "the  lawns,"  "the  glades,"  "the  plumes,"  etc., 
and  that  we  cannot  get  the  sense  until  we  come  to  "All 
these  he  saw."  It  is  as  if  we  were  to  write  "His  splen- 


AN  EXEECISB  IN  ANALYSIS  137 

did  work  in  history,  his  excellent  work  in  Latin,  his 
good  work  in  mathematics,  and  his  unusual  excellence 
in  manual  training, — all  these  he  received  no  credit 
for." 

Turning  now  to  the  thought  of  Group  Sequence,  we 
see  how  the  sense  is  suspended  from  line  to  line  until 
the  assertion  ends  the  incomplete  groups  with  "All 
these  he  saw."  Now  follows  a  simple  statement,  "but 
what  he  fain  had  seen  he  could  not  see,"  in  which  the 
thought  is  as  completely  finished  as  if  the  sentence 
were  followed  by  a  period.  Then  comes  the  phrase 
equivalent  to  the  "what,"  complete  in  itself:  "the 
kindly  human  voice."  After  this  is  another  entire 
statement :  "Nor  ever  hear  a  kindly  voice."  But  after 
that  there  is  suspense  in  the  groups  ending  with  "ocean- 
fowl,"  "reef,"  "zenith,"  "wave,"  "ranged,"  "gorge," 
and  "sailor."  Are  you  following  the  text,  page  133? 

As  for  Inversion,  here  we  have  an  excellent  illus- 
tration ;  and  while,  after  noting  the  Sequence  in 
the  various  groups,  we  do  not  need  to  spend  much 
time  on  Inversion,  yet  it  does  help  us  somewhat 
in  getting  the  meaning  when  we  recognize  that  the 
opening  groups  are  out  of  the  order  in  which  we 
should  expect  them;  it  is  as  if  the  object  of  a  verb 
should  begin  a  sentence. 

Your  careful  preparation  enables  you  to  enjoy  the 
scene  in  a  way  that  would  have  been  impossible  with- 
out the  details,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  such  a 
study  should  deprive  you  of  one  jot  of  pleasure  in 
the  picture.  There  is  beauty  piled  on  beauty:  the 
mountain,  the  lawns,  the  glades,  the  coco's  crown  of 


138    INTEKPBETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

plumes,  the  flash  of  insect  and  of  bird,  and  the  glori- 
ous coloring  of  the  tropics — all  these  that  would  have 
thrilled  a  lover  of  nature  to  Enoch  are  as  nothing. 

Now  note  the  change:  "All  these  he  saw,"  but 
never  "the  kindly  human  face."  He  never  heard  "a 
kindly  voice,"  but  instead,  the  ocean-fowl,  the  roller, 
the  whisper  of  huge  trees,  and  the  sweep  of  the  rivulet, 

As  down  the  shore  he  ranged,  or  all  day  long 
Sat  often  in  the  seaward-gazing  gorge. 

From  this  analysis  we  get  two  large  pictures:  what 
Enoch  saw — but  not  the  kindly  face ;  what  he  heard — 
but  not  the  kindly  voice.  All  the  glories  of  form  and 
color  meant  nothing  to  him;  all  the  sounds  of  the 
tropical  world  could  tell  him  nothing.  His  senses 
longed  for  human  faces  and  human  voices.  The 
pathos  of  his  loneliness  is  made  the  more  terrible  by 
the  beauty  of  the  nature  that  environs  him.  What 
his  heart  yearns  for  is  a  human  face,  a  human  voice; 
but  in  vain  he  longs : 

A  shipwreck'd  sailor,  waiting  for  a  sail. 

Has  our  study  not  brought  us  a  rich  reward  ?  The 
paragraph  which  at  first  seemed  so  obscure  and  per- 
haps to  most  of  us  so  dry,  has  become  clear  and  in- 
teresting, full  of  life  and  beauty.  We  have  learned, 
too,  that  interest  does  not  necessarily  lie  in  action  and 
excitement,  but,  as  in  this  case,  often  in  the  beauty  of 
the  picture  described,  or  in  sympathy  aroused  in  us 
for  the  people  in  the  story.  Now  reread  the  entire 
selection,  first  silently,  then  aloud. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

GROUP  MOTIVE 

In  the  chapter  on  Group  Sequence  we  learned  that 
so  long  as  the  thought  was  incomplete  the  voice  would 
rise  at  the  end  of  the  group — a  rising  inflection,  or 
glide  upward;  and  further,  that  when  the  thought 
was  complete,  when  we  asserted  strongly,  when  we 
demanded  or  commanded,  the  voice  at  once  responded 
with  a  downward  inflection  at  the  end  of  the  group, 
whether  the  group  was  long  or  consisted  of  only  a 
single  word.  In  this  chapter  we  are  to  discuss  the 
subject  at  length. 

When  you  ask  such  a  question  as  "Are  you  going 
home?"  you  hear  the  rising  tune  most  clearly  marked 
on  "home";  and  if  you  were  asked  where  you  were 
going  and  you  answered,  "I  am  going  home,"  your 
melody  would  be  decidedly  downward,  and  the  inflec- 
tion would  again  be  particularly  noticeable  on 
"home."  To  make  this  more  clear  hum  the  two  sen- 
tences. The  tune  is  more  easily  recognized  in  hum- 
ming because  it  is  not  combined  with  the  words.  Very 
often  in  simple  sentences  one  can  understand  another 
by  his  tune,  although  he  is  uttering  no  words  at  all. 
If  someone  makes  a  remark  to  you  which  you  do  not 
catch,  you  may  say  "What  did  you  say?"  or  "What?" 

139 


140    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

or  just  "Hm?"  In  every  one  of  these  cases  the  tune 
is  the  same  (although  in  the  first  answer  you  used  more 
words  than  in  the  others)  and  it  asks  for  informa- 
tion. Or,  let  us  take  a  tune  that  expresses  a  demand 
or  an  assertion,  such  as  "I  won't  go  home,"  or  "I 
won't,"  or  "No,"  or,  what  is  quite  common  among  us, 
just  the  strong  murmur  "M — m."  In  all  these  cases 
it  is  the  tune  that  conveys  the  motive  behind  the 
words.  And  what  a  big  difference  in  the  tunes !  You 
probably  never  noticed  before  that  there  were  tunes  in 
speech  and  that  so  much  depended  on  them  in  speak- 
ing and  reading.  Now  what  caused  you  to  make  this 
difference  in  tune  ?  You  did  not  try  to  make  it :  you 
were  not  even  conscious  that  you  were  doing  it:  you 
did  not  have  to  learn  how  to  do  it.  The  motive,  the 
purpose,  in  the  two  cases  was  different,  and  the  melody 
changed  with  the  motive. 

Now,  what  applies  to  these  little  sentences  applies 
to  every  phrase  or  sentence  you  utter:  as  the  motive 
changes  your  melody  changes  with  it.  We  saw  this  in 
the  examples  under  Group  Sequence,  but  we  noticed  it 
chiefly  at  the  end  of  the  groups ;  now  you  see  that  the 
principle  applies  to  every  word  and  syllable  of  the 
group.  Speech  tune  or  melody  is  just  rising  or  -fall- 
ing of  the  voice  sometimes  by  jumps,  sometimes  by 
slides;  and  is  determined  solely  by  the  motive.  If  we 
change  the  motive,  the  melody  changes ;  if  the  melody 
changes,  the  audience  gets  a  different  conception  with 
every  change. 


GROUP  MOTIVE 


Notice  the  melody  in  "Are  you  going  out?"     How 
the  voice  seems  to  climb  a  ladder  of  notes  like 


t 
u 
o 

going 
you 
Are 


Suppose  now  you  asked  the  same  question  of  one  who 
refuses  to  answer.  Then  you  ask  a  second  time,  and 
again  no  answer ;  until  finally  you  say 


A 
r 
e 

y 
o 
u 


o 
i 
n 

g 

o 
11 
t 


Grammatically,  this  is  a  question ;  but  since  under  the 
circumstances  it  really  becomes  a  demand,  your  melody 
runs  down  the  ladder.  You  are  no  longer  interested 
in  the  purpose  of  the  person  to  whom  you  are  speak- 
ing; you  do  not  care,  perhaps,  whether  he  is  going 


142    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

out  or  not ;  but  you  are  insisting  on  his  saying  some- 
thing; your  "Are  you  going  out?"  becomes  equivalent 
to  "Give  an  answer  to  my  question.  I  don't  care 
whether  it  be  yes  or  no,  but  an  answer  I  insist  upon." 
Hum  the  sentence  first  as  a  simple  question,  then  as  a 
demand,  and  you  will  see  more  clearly  than  before  how 
much  the  tune  tells  of  the  speaker's  motive. 

If  a  teacher  asks  William  to  rise,  and  John  rises 
instead,  and  the  teacher  says,  pointing  first  to  William 
and  then  to  John,  "I  mean  you,  not  you," — what  a 
strange  twisting  of  the  melody  we  hear  on  the  two 
"yous."  Plum  this  sentence,  too.  If  you  were  asked 
to  describe  these  melodies  you  would  be  unable  to  do  it, 
and  yet  how  naturally  and  easily  and  unconsciously 
you  used  them  when  you  wanted  another  to  get  the 
meaning.  That  peculiar  twist  in  the  tune  (called  a 
circumflex  inflection — although  you  don't  have  to 
bother  about  that)  was  really  a  sign  of  a  double  mean- 
ing, as  the  text  shows.  An  example  from  Julius  Caesar 
is  similar  to  this.  Marc  Antony  is  speaking  to  the 
mob,  who  believe  he  is  going  to  £ay  something  in 
favor  of  the  dead  Caesar,  whose  memory,  for  the  mo- 
ment at  any  rate,  they  do  not  hold  dear.  In  order  to 
get  their  attention  Antony  says  "I  come  to  bury 
Caesar,  not  to  praise  him."  As  you  read  that  aloud 
do  you  notice  how  naturally  the  melody  glides  up  and 
down  on  "bury"  and  "praise"?  Again  we  have  the 
double  meaning.  The  mob  thought  he  was  going  to 
praise  Caesar,  and  Antony  says,  No,  not  "praise,"  but 
"bury."  When,  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice  (Act  I, 
sc.  iii),  Shylock  says  to  Antonio:  "Hath  a  dog 


GROUP  MOTIVE  143 

money?"  he  is  not  seeking  information.  Antonio,  who 
hates  the  Jew,  has  frequently  called  him  a  dog,  but 
now  he  comes  to  Shylock  and  asks  for  a  loan  of 
money,  and  Shylock  answers : 

Hath  a  dog  money?     Is  it  possible 
A  cur  can  lend  three  thousand  ducats? 

The  sarcasm,  the  double  idea  as  it  were,  in  both  sen- 
tences is  brought  out  by  the  peculiar  tune  used  on 
"dog"  and  "cur." 

The  lesson  we  learn  from  these  few  illustrations 
is  that  we  must  be  exceedingly  careful  to  get  the 
motive,  the  purpose,  the  intention,  behind  every 
phrase,  and,  having  it,  must  hold  it  firmly  in  mind  as 
we  read,  so  that  the  listener  cannot  possibly  miss  it. 

Here  are  some  examples  of  greater  difficulty  to 
show  what  difference  tune  makes  in  our  vocal  expres- 
sion. But  never  forget :  our  principal  reason  for  dis- 
cussing this  problem  is  to  make  you  more  careful,  first 
in  your  silent  reading,  and  then  particularly  in  the 
reading  aloud  of  poetry,  drama,  and  novels. 

In  Lancelot  and  Elaine,  after  telling  us  that  Elaine, 
the  lily  maid,  has  the  shield  of  Lancelot,  Tennyson 
goes  on : 

How  came  the  lily  maid  by  that  good  shield 
Of  Lancelot,  she  that  knew  not  ev'n  his  name? 
He  left  it  with  her,  etc. 

Is  it  the  poet's  purpose  to  ask  the  reader  a  question 
which  he  could  not  answer,  and  which  the  poet  himself 
could  answer?  Certainly  not.  What  is  the  meaning 
then?  Supply  "Do  you  ask  me"  before  "How  came," 


144    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

and  you  will  get  it.  And  it's  all  a  matter  of  the 
motive  behind  the  question. 

Here  is  a  similar  problem.  Jean  Valjean  has  left 
the  city  and  the  author  asks : 

How  long  did  he  weep  thus?  What  did  he  do  after 
weeping?  Where  did  he  go?  Nobody  ever  knew. 

Of  course  the  author  isn't  asking  these  questions ;  it  is 
just  as  in  the  previous  illustration. 

In  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  after  Bassanio  is  sup- 
posed to  have  explained  to  Shylock  that  Antonio 
wishes  to  borrow  three  thousand  ducats,  for  three 
months,  Bassanio  and  Shylock  enter  as  the  latter  says : 

Three  thousand  ducats;   well 

I  have  purposely  omitted  a  punctuation  mark  after 
"well."  You  put  it  in — now — and  we  will  discuss 
your  choice  a  little  later  on.  Bassanio  answers : 

Ay,  sir,  for  three  months. 
Shylock  continues: 

For  three  months;  well 
and  again  Bassanio  retorts : 

For  the  which,  as  I  told  you,  Antonio  shall  be  bound. 

You  have  probably  decided  to  put  in  a  question  mark 
after  the  "wells."  Why?  Because  you  decided  Shy- 
lock's  motive  or  intention  was  to  indicate  that  he 
understood  so  far  and  wanted  Bassanio  to  continue — 
as  much  as  to  say  "I  understand;  go  on.  What 
next?"  And  the  same  principle  applies  to  the  second 


GROUP  MOTIVE  145 

"well."  Now  if  I  should  say  this  is  the  way  to  punc- 
tuate the  lines: 

Three  thousand  ducats ;  well. 
For  three  months;  well. 

how  would  you  interpret  them  ?  I  shall  leave  it  to  you 
to  work  out,  but  no  matter  what  your  conclusion  is, 
will  it  not  be  clear  that  it  is  all  a  matter  of  motive  ? 

Brutus    accuses    Cassius    of    having    "an    itching 
palm,"  and  Cassius  angrily  replies: 

I  an  itching  palm? 

You  know  that  you  are  Brutus  that  speak  this, 
Or,  by  the  gods,  this  speech  were  else  your  last. 

Without  much  doubt  Cassius'  first  four  words  and 
their  motive  can  be  paraphrased,  "Do  you  dare  to  say 
to  me,  Cassius,  that  I  am  so  low,  so  debased,  that  I 
would  stoop  to  take  what  was  not  mine?"  and  there  is 
a  challenge  in  that  upward  sweep  of  the  melody.  But 
I  have  heard  the  words  read  with  a  strong  downward 
sweep.  Paraphrased,  in  this  case  the  melody  con- 
veyed the  idea  that  Cassius  meant  "He  has  used  these 
terrible  words  of  accusation  to  me!"  We  are  not  to 
decide  whether  this  is  the  true  meaning  of  Cassius, 
but  to  see  how  the  motive  controls  the  melody,  and 
how  (and  this  I  say  again  and  again)  careful  we  must 
be  to  get  the  motive. 

The  reason  why  so  much  of  our  reading  is  dull  and 
monotonous  is  largely  because  we  do  not  get  the 
motive;  for,  the  moment  we  do  get  this  the  reading 


146    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

becomes  full  of  variety,  vital,  and  interesting.  See 
how  this  works  out  in  a  longer  passage,  from  the 
opening  lines  of  Julius  Caesar. 

Caesar  has  just  returned  triumphant  from  the  wars. 
The  citizens  are  in  a  holiday  mood,  laughing  and 
talking,  when  one  of  the  rulers  in  the  city,  who  hates 
Caesar,  stops  them,  saying: 

Hence !  home,  you  idle  creatures,  get  you  home ; 
Is  this  a  holiday? 

It  is  an  interesting  experiment  to  read  this  passage 
without  any  motive  except  to  say  the  words.  That  is, 
to  read  it  in  almost  a  monotone.  How  flat  and  dull  it 
is !  In  fact,  if  you  have  any  spirit  in  you  at  all,  it  is 
only  with  great  difficulty  you  can  keep  the  monotone. 
Now  read  it  so  as  to  make  the  citizens  see  just  what 
the  speaker  has  in  mind.  Note  how  animated  the 
expression  becomes !  How  alive  the  words  are !  How 
the  voice  jumps  and  glides  up  and  down  the  scale! 
Read  now  the  speeches  of  some  of  the  citizens.  The 
more  you  see  that  they  are  just  poking  fun  at 
Flavius  and  Marullus,  the  more  will  animation  show 
itself  through  your  tune,  or  melody,  which  you  will 
not  have  to  make  up  or  study  out  in  advance,  but 
which  will  come  spontaneously,  just  as  it  comes  when 
you  are  talking  on  the  street,  or  on  the  playground, 
or  in  the  house. 

[A  scene  in  Rome.    A  street.] 

[Enter  Flavius,  Marullus,  and  certain  Commoners.] 
Flav.    Hence !  home,  you  idle  creatures,  get  you  home : 

Is  this  a  holiday?  what!  know  you  not, 

Being  mechanical,  you  ought  not  walk 


GEOUP  MOTIVE  147 

Upon  a  labouring  day  without  the  sign 

Of  your  profession?     Speak,  what  trade  art  thou? 

First  Com.    Why,  sir,  a  carpenter. 

Mar.    Where  is  thy  leather  apron  and  thy  rule? 
What  dost  thou  with  thy  best  apparel  on? 
You,  sir,  what  trade  are  you? 

Sec.  Com.  Truly,  sir,  in  respect  of  a  fine  workman, 
I  am  but,  as  you  would  say,  a  cobbler. 

Mar.    But  what  trade  art  thou?  answer  me  directly. 

Sec.  Com.  A  trade,  sir,  that,  I  hope,  I  may  use  with 
a  safe  conscience;  which  is,  indeed,  sir,  a  mender  of 
bad  soles. 

Mar.  What  trade,  thou  knave?  thou  naughty  knave, 
what  trade? 

Sec.  Com.  Nay,  I  beseech  you,  sir,  be  not  out  with 
me:  yet,  if  you  be  out,  sir,  I  can  mend  you. 

Mar.  What  meanest  thou  by  that?  mend  me,  thou 
saucy  fellow! 

Sec.  Com.    Why,  sir,  cobble  you. 

Flav.    Thou  art  a  cobbler,  art  thou  ? 

Sec.  Com.  Truly,  sir,  all  that  I  live  by  is  with  the 
awl:  I  meddle  with  no  tradesman's  matters,  nor  women's 
matters,  but  with  awl.  I  am,  indeed,  sir,  a  surgeon  to 
old  shoes;  when  they  are  in  great  danger,  I  recover 
them.  As  proper  men  as  ever  trod  upon  neat's  leather 
have  gone  upon  my  handiwork. 

Flav.  But  wherefore  art  not  in  thy  shop  today? 
Why  dost  thou  lead  these  men  about  the  streets? 

Sec.  Com.  Truly,  sir,  to  wear  out  their  shoes,  to  get 
myself  into  more  work.  But,  indeed,  sir,  we  make 
holiday,  to  see  Caesar  and  to  rejoice  in  his  triumph. 

An  example  of  unusual  interest  is  found  in  the  third 
act  of  Othello,  where  the  villain  lago  is  trying  to 
make  Othello  jealous  of  his  wife  Desdemona.  Othello 
married  Desdemona  secretly,  no  one  except  Michael 


148    INTERPKETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Cassio  knowing  anything  about  it  until  it  was  pub- 
licly announced.  With  this  in  mind,  you  will  be  able 
to  follow  the  dialogue.  Particularly  your  attention 
is  called  to  the  "indeeds"  and  "honests."  The  excla- 
mation points  sometimes  indicate  strong  assertion  and 
at  others  strong  emotion  without  necessarily  implying 
that  the  remark  is  not  a  question : 

logo.    My  noble  lord, — 

Oth.  What  dost  thou  say,  lago? 

lago.    Did  Michael  Cassio,  when  you  woo'd  my  lady, 
Know  of  your  love? 

Oth.    He  did,  from  first  to  last:  why  dost  thou  ask? 

lago.    But  for  a  satisfaction  of  my  thought; 
No  further  harm. 

Oth.  Why  of  thy  thought,  lago? 

lago.    I  did  not  think  he  had  been  acquainted  with  her. 

Oth.    O,  yes;   and  went  between  us  very  oft. 

lago.    Indeed ! 

Oth.     Indeed!     ay,  indeed:    discern'st  thou  aught  in 

that? 
Is  he  not  honest? 

lago.  Honest,  my  lord? 

Oth.  Honest!  ay,  honest. 

lago.    My  lord,  for  aught  I  know. 

Oth.    What  dost  thou  think? 

lago.  Think,  my  lord? 

Oth.  Think,  my  lord  ! 

By  heaven,  he  echoes  me, 
As  if  there  were  some  monster  in  his  thought 
Too  hideous  to  be  shown.      Thou  dost  mean  something: 
I  heard  thee  say  even  now,  thou  likedst  not  that, 
When  Cassio  left  my  wife.     What  didst  not  like? 
And  when  I  told  thee  he  was  of  my  counsel 
In  my  whole  course  of  wooing,  thou  criedst  "Indeed !" 
And  didst  contract  and  purse  thy  brow  together, 


GROUP  MOTIVE  149 

As  if  thou  then  hadst  shut  up  in  thy  brain 
Some  horrible  conceit.     If  thou  dost  love  me, 
Show  me  thy  thought. 

There  are  at  least  two  ways  to  interpret  the  motive 
in  the  following  question.  Read  it  aloud: 

Beneath  what? 

In  a  preceding  paragraph  I  said  that  melodies 
dealt  with  jumps  and  glides  of  the  voice.  This  is  just 
as  it  is  in  singing.  Take  any  melody  you  know  and 
hum  it  quietly:  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  for  instance. 
What  makes  that  melody? — nothing  but  a  series  of 
jumps  and  glides.  Keep  this  principle  in  mind  as  you 
hum  the  lines  with  their  speech  tunes.  The  difference 
between  the  speech  melody  and  the  song  melody  is 
very  great  and  very  marked.  In  what  does  it  con- 
sist? Largely  in  the  different  jumps  and  glides. 
Song  melodies  are  invented,  speech  melodies  are  in- 
stinctive, natural.  No  two  persons  would  be  likely  to 
invent  the  same  tune  for  given  words ;  but  there  will 
be  very  little  difference  in  the  speech  tunes  of  a  given 
meaning  in  a  thousand  persons. 

Here  is  an  illustration  of  the  way  the  voice  jumps. 
Say  "I  will,"  not  too  emphatically,  and  the  voice 
will  jump  upward  between  "I"  and  "will."  Say  the 
words  now  with  greater  determination,  and  the  jump 
between  "I"  and  "will"  becomes  longer.  Now  say 
them  with  the  greatest  possible  determination,  and  note 
how  the  voice  jumps  almost  a  whole  octave,  or  even 
more!  The  jump  is  between  "I"  and  "will,"  and  the 
glide  is  on  "will" ;  and  that  is  all  there  is  to  melody. 


150    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

So  you  see  that  (1)  interpretation  of  motive  is 
necessary;  (2)  if  you  have  the  motive  in  mind  when 
you  speak,  the  tune  to  express  that  motive,  comes 
without  any  conscious  effort  on  your  part;  (3)  the 
audience  without  conscious  effort  get  your  motive 
through  the  melody;  and  (4)  if  you  get  no  motive  or 
the  wrong  motive,  the  audience  get  no  sense  or  the 
wrong  sense. 

That  writers  lay  considerable  stress  on  motive  is 
made  clear  from  the  following  passages  from  well- 
known  authors.  If  they  didn't  feel  that  characters 
often  revealed  themselves  through  the  tunes  as  much 
as,  and  often  more  than,  in  the  mere  words,  why 
should  they  go  to  such  pains  to  describe  the  melodies? 
for,  directly  or  indirectly,  that  is  what  they  often  do. 
And  certainly  we  must  interpret  these  melodies  both 
for  ourselves  and,  when  we  read  aloud,  for  others. 

"Oh,  I  know,"  said  Priscilla,  smiling  sarcastically, 
"I  know  the  way  o'  wives;  they  set  one  on  to  abuse 
their  husband,  and  then  they  turn  round  on  one  and 
praise  'em  as  if  they  wanted  to  sell  'em." — ELIOT:  Silas 
Marner. 

"Well — stay — let  me  see,"  said  Mr.  Snell,  like  a 
docile  clairvoyante,  who  would  really  not  make  a  mis- 
take if  she  could  help  it. — Ibid. 

Mr.  Macey  has  been  advising  Silas  to  get  a  suit  of 
Sunday  clothes,  and  continues: 

And  as  for  the  money  for  the  suit  o'  clothes,  why, 
you  get  a  matter  of  a  pound  a  week  at  your  weaving, 
Master  Marner,  and  you're  a  young  man,  eh,  for  all 


GROUP  MOTIVE  151 

you  look  so  mushed.      Why,  you  couldn't  ha*  been  five- 
and-twenty  when  you  come  into  these  parts,  eh? 

Then  the  author  adds: 

Silas  started  a  little  at  the  change  to  a  questioning 
tone. — Ibid. 

In  some  of  the  following  illustrations  the  authors 
speak  of  the  emotion  as  well  as  the  Motive;  but  you 
should  take  care  to  discriminate  between  them.  The 
emotion  affects  the  quality  of  your  voice  while  Motive 
affects  the  tune.  Although  the  passage  be  emotional 
its  motive  might  be  differently  interpreted  were  it  not 
for  the  authors'  comment. 

The  next  three  excerpts  are  from  Ruskin's  King  of 
the  Golden  River: 

"How  did  he  get  in?"  roared  Schwartz. 
"My  dear  brother,"   said   Gluck,  deprecatingly,   "he 
was  so  very  wet!" 

"Who  are  you,  sir?"  demanded  Schwartz,  turning 
upon  him. 

"Wouldn't  it,  sir?"  said  Gluck,  very  mildly  and  sub- 
missively indeed. 

"No,"  said  the  dwarf,  conclusively.  "No,  it 
wouldn't." 

She  disappears  under  the  shed  where  the  fat  cattle 
have  already  hastened,  and  soon  her  voice  is  heard,  as 
she  caressingly  talks  with  the  cow  buffalo. 

"Won't  you  stand  still! — There,  there,  now!  there, 
old  lady!" — TOLSTOI:  The  Cossacks. 

(If  it  were  not  for  "caressingly,"  how  different 
would  your  melody  be  on  "Won't  you  stand  still!") 


152    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

"You  are  most  kind,  sir,"  he  said  with  mock  polite- 
ness. "But  madame,  my  wife,  has  not  done  well  to  inter- 
est a  stranger  in  this  affair." — DAVIS:  There  Were 
Ninety  and  Nine. 

"It  does  the  boots  and  shoes,"  the  Gryphon  replied 
very  solemnly. 

Alice  was  thoroughly  puzzled.  "Does  the  boots  and 
shoes!"  she  repeated  in  a  wondering  tone. — CARROLL: 
Alice  in  Wonderland. 

The  following  are  from  George  Eliot's  The  Mill  on 
the  Floss: 

"It  wasn't,"  said  Tom,  loudly  and  peremptorily.  "You 
give  me  the  halfpenny:  I've  won  it  fair." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Riley,  in  an  admonitory  patronizing 
tone,  as  he  patted  Maggie  on  the  head,  "I  advise  you  to 
put  by  the  'History  of  the  Devil,'  and  read  some  prettier 
book.  Have  you  no  prettier  books  ?" 

"Oh,  I  say  nothing,"  said  Mrs.  Glegg,  sarcastically. 
"My  advice  has  never  been  asked,  and  I  don't  give  it." 

"Well,  I  don't  know  what  fault  you've  got  to  find  wi' 
me,  Mr.  Tulliver,"  said  Mr.  Moss  deprecatingly :  "I 
know  there  isn't  a  day-laborer  works  harder." 

"My  little  lady,  where  are  you  going  to?"  the  gypsy 
said,  in  a  tone  of  coaxing  deference. 

"I  don't  want  to  wear  a  bonnet,"  Maggie  said;  "I'd 
rather  wear  a  red  handkerchief  like  yours"  (looking  at 
her  friend  by  her  side).  "My  hair  was  quite  long  till 
yesterday,  when  I  cut  it  off;  but  I  dare  say  it  will  grow 
again  very  soon,"  she  added  apologetically,  thinking  the 
gypsies  had  a  strong  prejudice  in  favor  of  long  hair. 


GROUP  MOTIVE  153 

Mr.  Glegg  paused  from  his  porridge  and  looked  up — 
not  with  any  new  amazement,  but  simply  with  that  quiet, 
habitual  wonder  with  which  we  regard  constant  mys- 
teries. 

"Why,  Mrs.  G.,  what  have  I  done  now?" 
"Done  now,  Mr.  Glegg?  done  now?     ....     I'm 
sorry  for  you." 

"Don't  lower  yourself  with  using  coarse  language  to 
me,  Mr.  Glegg!  It  makes  you  look  very  small,  though 
you  can't  see  yourself,"  said  Mrs.  Glegg,  in  a  tone  of 
energetic  compassion.  "A  man  in  your  place  should  set 
an  example,  and  talk  more  sensible." 

"Yes;  but  will  you  listen  to  sense?"  retorted  Mr. 
Glegg,  sharply. 

"Go,  go !"  said  Mr.  Tulliver,  reprovingly,  "you  mustn't 
say  so.  You  must  learn  what  your  master  tells  you.  He 
knows  what  it's  right  for  you  to  learn." 

"And  you  don't  mind  that?"  said  Tom,  with  strong 
curiosity. 

"No,  no,  Maggie,"  said  Tom,  in  his  most  coaxing  tone, 
"it's  something  you'll  like  ever  so." 


CHAPTER  IX 

CENTRAL  IDEA 

We  have  learned  that  speech  tune  depends  on  mo- 
tive ;  but  if  we  listen  a  little  more  closely  to  the  melody 
we  shall  find  there  is  a  certain  word  or  words  in  every 
group  standing  out  prominently  above  all  others. 
Observe  this  in  one  of  the  groups  we  have  had : 

Hath  a  dog  money? 

And  this  is  true  in  all  groups :  there  is  a  center  around 
which  the  thought  revolves.  When  Shylock  retorts, 
"Hath  a  dog  money?"  it  is  the  "dog"  which  is,  as  it 
were,  in  the  center  of  his  thoughts,  but  if  he  were  dis- 
cussing the  features  of  a  dog  he  might  say,  "and  a 
dog  hath  eyes,  ears',  and  mouth,  but  hath  a  dog 
money?"  In  that  case  the  centers  would  be  "eyes," 
"ears,"  "mouth,"  and  particularly  "money." 

Motive  and  Central  Idea  have  much  in  common. 
One  can  almost  say  that  if  we  get  the  right  Motive 
the  Central  Idea  will  take  care  of  itself.  But  this  is 
not  by  any  means  always  true.  Motive  deals  with 
continuity,  assertion,  question,  doubt,  etc.,  but  one 
can  assert  or  question  concerning  the  wrong  Central 
Idea.  For  instance :  the  elder  brother  of  the  prodigal 
son  is  annoyed  that  his  father  should  kill  the  fatted 

154 


CENTRAL  IDEA  155 

calf  in  honor  of  the  return  of  the  prodigal,  who  has 
come  home  only  after  squandering  all  his  money ;  and 
the  elder  son,  who  has  stayed  at  home  and  saved  his 
money,  says  angrily  to  the  father: 

Lo,  these  many  years  do  I  serve  thee  and  I  never 
transgressed  a  commandment  of  thine;  and  yet  thou 
never  gavest  me  a  kid,  that  I  might  make  merry  with 
my  friends:  but  when  this  thy  son  came,  which  hath 
devoured  thy  living  with  harlots,  thou  killedst  for  him 
the  fatted  calf. 

Now  as  to  the  Motive  there  can  be  no  doubt :  note  the 
assertiveness  in  almost  every  sentence  of  the  elder  son's 
remarks  to  the  old  father.  But  what  of  the  Cen- 
tral Idea  within  that  motive?  (There  are  many 
words  here  that  stand  out  prominently,  but  for  our 
present  purpose  we  confine  ourselves  to  two.)  How 
have  you  read  the  lines  ?  Let  the  class  debate  on  these 
two  interpretations : 

(1)  and  yet  thou  never  gavest  me  a  kid,  that  I  might 
make  merry  with  my  friends ; 

(2)  and  yet  thou  never  gavest  me  a  kid,  that  I  might 
make  merry  with  my  friends. 

The  Motive  is  the  same  in  both  cases,  but  what  a  great 
difference  in  the  Central  Ideas ! 

Count  slowly,  mechanically,  and  assertively  from 
one  to  ten : 

1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10. 

In  saying  these  numbers  you  have  no  motive  but  asser- 
tion in  counting  from  one  to  ten.  If  you  were  look- 
ing forward  to  the  end  after  each  numeral  you  would 


156    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

have  used  unconsciously  an  upward  glide  on  every 
one  but  the  last.  Now  let  us  suppose  that  I  misun- 
derstood your  counting  and  criticized  you,  saying, 

"You  said,  1,  2,  3,  three,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10," 
and  you  answered, 

"I  didn't.    I  said,  1,  2,  3,  four,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10." 

Here  you  had  an  entirely  different  Central  Idea.  You 
were  not  thinking  of  counting  up  to  ten,  but  of  telling 
me  that  you  had  not  omitted  the  "four."  In  other 
words,  your  Central  Idea  was  the  "four."  This  same 
principle  will  be  noted  in  the  following: 

I  am  going  to  school  tomorrow. 

If  I  say  to  you,  "Who  is  going  to  school  tomorrow?" 
you  answer, 

I  am  going  to  school  tomorrow. 

If  I  am  trying  to  stop  you  from  going,  and  say  you 
shall  not  go,  then  you  will  answer, 

I  am  going  to  school  tomorrow. 

Should  I  ask  you  where  you  are  going,  you  would  say, 
I  am  going  to  school  tomorrow. 

And,  finally,  if  there  should  be  a  doubt  as  to  the  day, 
you  would  clear  it  up  by, 

I  am  going  to  school  tomorrow. 

In  every  one  of  these  cases  your  Central  Idea  changed, 
while  the  motive  of  assertion  remained  the  same ;  you 


CENTRAL  IDEA  157 

had  a  very  definite  and  different  Central  Idea  in  mind 
every  time :  to  correct  a  wrong  impression,  or  to  make 
very  emphatic  what  you  had  to  say.  Since  I  doubted 
your  determination  to  go,  you  replied  strongly,  "I  am 
going."  Or,  again,  since  I  thought  you  were  going 
next  week  or  next  month,  you  set  me  right  by  saying, 
"I  am  going  tomorrow"  That  is,  your  Central  Idea 
affected  very  decidedly  your  way  of  speaking  and  you 
didn't  have  to  stop  to  consider  how  to  bring  out  your 
Central  Idea  in  the  reading  any  more  than  you  do  in 
everyday  conversation. 

Here  is  a  discussion  of  work  and  worry.  Many 
people  claim  that  too  much  work  is  deadly.  To  these 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  says: 

It  is  not  work  that  kills  men ;  it  is  worry.  Work 
is  healthy ;  you  can  hardly  put  more  upon  a  man  than 
he  can  bear.  Worry  is  rust  upon  the  blade.  It  is 
not  the  revolution  that  destroys  machinery,  but  the 
friction. 

To  review:  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  the  term 
Central  Idea  was  used  several  times.  To  be  certain 
we  know  just  what  it  means  let  us  go  back.  When 
you  said  "1,  2,  3,  four,"  etc.,  the  Central  Idea  was  to 
get  the  person  to  see  that  you  had  said  "four"  and  not 
"three,"  You  might  have  expressed  your  Central 
Idea  by  saying,  "The  numeral  after  'three'  was 
'four.' "  And  in  the  sentence  "I  am  going  to  school 
tomorrow"  you  meant  to  express  determination  that 
in  spite  of  opposition  you  were  determined  to  go  to 
school.  And  this  was  your  Central  Idea.  When  the 
man  who  had  called  Shylock  a  dog  wished  to  borrow 


158    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

money  from  him,  Shylock's  Central  Idea  was  to  re- 
mind Antonio  in  a  sarcastic  way  that  a  man  who  is 
only  a  dog  is  hardly  the  one  to  lend  money.  Para- 
phrased, his  question  might  read  "Can  such  a  miserable 
creature  as  a  dog  help  you  ?"  And  in  the  last  illustra- 
tion Beecher's  Central  Idea  is  to  contradict  those  who 
claim  that  work  kills  by  showing  them  it  is  worry  that 
does  it.  In  his  first  sentence,  therefore,  the  Central 
Idea  consists  of  a  contrast  between  "work"  and 
"worry";  just  as  in  the  concluding  sentence  the  an- 
tithesis between  "revolution"  and  "friction"  is  the 
Central  Idea. 

I  have  purposely  chosen  sentences  in  which  by  rea- 
son of  contrast  the  Central  Idea  stands  out  vividly. 
But,  after  all,  contrasts  are  the  exception,  not  the 
rule.  Every  sentence,  one  might  say  every  group, 
has  its  center,  and  to  determine  what  that  is  is  gener- 
ally not  difficult,  and  especially  it  should  not  be  for 
those  who  have  been  studying  the  preceding  chapters. 
One  can  go  further  and  say  one  need  give  but  little  at- 
tention consciously  to  the  Central  Idea ;  it  takes  care  of 
itself  in  ninety-five  cases  in  a  hundred  where  the  reader 
understands  the  meaning  of  the  words ;  but  in  the 
other  five  per  cent  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  as 
the  following  illustrations  will  prove.  The  first  ex- 
ample is  from  a  speech  of  Patrick  Henry,  who  is  re- 
plying to  a  speaker  who  has  been  pleading  for  peace 
on  the  ground  that  the  young  colonies  are  too  weak 
to  attack  the  mother  country.  Attention  is  drawn  to 
the  Central  Ideas  by  italics,  but  students  must  remem- 
ber it  is  ideas  that  are  to  be  brought  out,  not  words  to 


CENTRAL  IDEA  159 

be  emphasized.  And  I  have  purposely  italicized  only 
those  words  which  seem  to  convey  the  essentials.  The 
others  the  student  will  discover  for  himself: 

Sir,  we  are  not  weak,  if  we  make  a  proper  use  of  those 
means  which  the  God  of  nature  hath  placed  in  our  power. 
Three  millions  of  people,  armed  in  the  holy  cause  of 
liberty,  and  in  a  country  such  as  that  which  we  possess, 
are  invincible  by  any  force  which  our  enemy  can  send 
against  us.  Besides,  sir,  we  shall  not  fight  our  battles 
alone.  There  is  a  just  God  who  presides  over  the  des- 
tinies of  nations,  and  who  will  raise  up  friends  to  fight 
our  battles  for  us.  The  battle,  sir,  is  not  to  the  strong 
alone;  it  is  to  the  vigilant,  the  active,  the  brave.  Besides, 
sir,  we  have  no  election.  If  we  were  base  enough  to 
desire  it,  it  is  now  too  late  to  retire  from  the  contest. 
There  is  no  retreat  but  in  submission  and  slavery!  Our 
chains  are  forged!  Their  clanking  may  be  heard  on  the 
plains  of  Boston!  The  war  is  inevitable — and  let  it 
come!  I  repeat  it,  sir,  let  it  come! 

It  is  in  vain,  sir,  to  extenuate  the  matter.  Gentlemen 
may  cry,  Peace,  peace! — but  there  is  no  peace.  The  war 
is  actually  begun!  The  next  gale  that  sweeps  from  the 
north  will  bring  to  our  ears  the  clash  of  resounding  arms  ! 
Our  brethren  are  already  in  the  field!  Why  stand  we 
here  idle?  What  is  it  that  gentlemen  wish?  What 
would  they  have?  Is  life  so  dear,  or  peace  so  sweet,  as 
to  be  purchased  at  the  price  of  chains  and  slavery? 
Forbid  it,  Almighty  God !  I  know  not  what  course  others 
may  take;  but  as  for  me,  give  me  liberty  or  give  me 
death! — PATRICK  HENRY. 

Or  again  ;  Shylock  is  about  to  claim  his  pound  of  flesh 
of  Antonio,  and  a  friend  of  Antonio  says: 

Salarino. — Why,  I  am  sure,  if  he  forfeit,  thou  wilt 
not  take  his  flesh:  what's  that  good  for? 


160    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Shylock.  —  To  bait  fish  withal:  if  it  will  feed  nothing 
else,  it  will  feed  my  revenge.  He  hath  disgraced  me, 
and  hindered  me  half  a  million;  laughed  at  my  losses, 
mocked  at  my  gains,  scorned  my  nation,  thwarted  my 
bargains,  cooled  my  friends,  heated  mine  enemies;  and 
what's  his  reason?  I  am  a  Jew.  Hath  not  a  Jew  eyes? 
hath  not  a  Jew  hands,  organs,  dimensions,  senses,  affec- 
tions, passions?  fed  with  the  same  food,  hurt  with  the 
same  weapons,  subject  to  the  same  diseases,  healed  by 
the  same  means,  warmed  and  cooled  by  the  same  winter 
and  summer,  as  a  Christian  is?  If  you  prick  us,  do  we 
not  bleed?  if  you  tickle  us,  do  we  not  laugh?  if  you 
poison  us,  do  we  not  dz'e?  and  if  you  wrong  us,  shall  we 
not  revenge?  If  we  are  Zz'Are  you  in  the  rest,  we  will  re- 
semble  you  in  f^af.  If  a  Jew  wrong  a  Christian,  what  is 
his  humility?  Revenge.  If  a  Christian  wrong  a  Jew, 
what  should  /«'*  sufferance  be  by  Christian  example? 
Why,  revenge.  The  villany  you  teach  me,  I  will  execute, 
and  it  shall  go  hard,  but  I  will  better  the  instruction.  — 
Merchant  of  Venice,  III,  i. 


I  have  indicated  in  the  following  passages  what 
appear  to  be  the  Central  Ideas.  (Only  the  more  im- 
portant parts  of  the  most  Important  of  the  groups  are 
italicized.)  Let  the  student  study  them  carefully  and 
give  his  reasons  for  accepting  or  rejecting  the  sug- 
gested interpretation.  But  it  must  not  be  taken  for 
granted  that  because  a  word  is  italicized  it  necessarily 
means  that  it  must  be  uttered  with  more  than  usual 
force.  Sometimes,  of  course,  the  Central  Idea  is 
brought  out  by  mere  force;  but  my  purpose  in  ital- 
icizing words  is  merely  to  suggest  that  they  are  that 
part  of  the  sentence  which  expresses  the  Central  Idea. 
Let  the  student  get  that,  and  the  means  of  bringing 
it  out  need  not  concern  him. 


CENTRAL  IDEA 

Selections  from  Julian  Caesar: 

I  come  to  bury  Caesar,  not  to  praise  him. 

Let  us  be  sacrifice™,  but  not  butchert. 

Marullus. — You    blocks,    you    stones,    you    worse    than 
senseless  things ! 

0  you  hard  hearts,  you  cruel  men  of  Rome, 
Knew  you  not  Pompey?     Many  a  time  and  oft 
Have  you  climb'd  up  to  walls  and  battlements, 
To  towers  and  windows,  yea,  to  chimney-tops, 
Your  infants  in  your  arms,  and  there  have  sat 
The  live-long  day,  with  patient  expectation, 
To  see  great  Pompey  pass  the  streets  of  Rome ! 

— Julius  Caesar,  I,  i. 

Casca. — 'Tis  Caesar  that  you  mean;  is  it  not,  Cassius? 
Cassius. — Let  it  be  who  it  is:   for  Romans  now 
Have  thews  and  limbs  like  to  their  ancestors; 
But,  woe  the  while!  our  fathers'  minds  are  dead, 
And  we  are  govern'd  with  our  mothers'  spirits; 
Our  yoke  and  sufferance  show  us  womanish. 

— Ibid.,  I,  iii. 

Decius. — Caesar,  all  hail !  Good  morrow,  worthy  Caesar ; 

1  come  to  fetch  you  to  the  senate-house. 
Caesar. — And  you  are  come  in  very  happy  time 
To  bear  my  greeting  to  the  senators, 

And  tell  them  that  I  will  not  come  today. 
Cannot  is  false;  and  that  I  dare  not,  falser; 
I  will  not  come  today:   tell  them  so,  Decius. 

— Ibid.,  II,  ii. 

Cassius. — Most  noble  brother,  you  have  done  me  wrong. 
Brutus. — Judge  me,  you  gods !  Wrong  I  mine  enemies? 
And,  if  not  so,  how  should  I  wrong  a  brother? 

IV,  ii. 


162    INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Cassius. — You  love  me  not. 
Brutus. —  I  do  not  like  your  faults. 

Cassius. — A  friendly  eye  could  never  see  such  faults. 
Brutus. — A  flatterer's  would  not,  though  they  do  appear 
As  huge  as  high  Olympus.  IV,  iii. 

Selections  from  The  Merchant  of  Venice: 

Antonio. — In  sooth,  I  know  not  why  I  am  so  sad: 
It  wearies  me;  you  say  it  wearies  you; 
But  how  I  caught  it,  found  it,  or  came  by  it, 
What  stuff  'tis  made  of,  whereof  it  is  born, 
I  am  to  learn. 

(Would  you  prefer  to  read  "it  wearies  ME"? 
Why?) 

Bassanio. — Gratiano  speaks  an  infinite  deal  of  noth- 
ing, more  than  any  man  in  all  Venice.  His  reasons  are 
as  two  grains  of  wheat  hid  in  two  bushels  of  chaff:  you 
shall  seek  all  day  ere  you  find  them ;  and  when  you  have 
them,  they  are  not  worth  the  search. 

Shylock. — Three  thousand  ducats  for  three  months 
and  Antonio  bound. 

Bassanio. — Your  answer  to  that. 

Shylock. — Antonio  is  a  good  man. 

Bassanio. — Have  you  heard  any  imputation  to  the 
contrary? 

Shylock. — Oh !  no,  no,  no,  no : — my  meaning  in  saying 
he  is  a  good  man  is  to  have  you  understand  me  that  he 
is  sufficient:  yet  his  means  are  in  supposition:  he  hath 
an  argosy  bound  to  Tripolis,  another  to  the  Indies;  I 
understand,  moreover,  upon  the  Rialto,  he  hath  a  third 
at  Mexico,  a  fourth  for  England,  and  other  ventures  he 
hath,  squandered  abroad.  But  ships  are  but  boards,  sail- 
ors but  men:  there  be  land-rats  and  water-rats,  water- 
thieves  and  land-thieves,  I  mean  pirates,  and  then  there 


CENTRAL  IDEA  163 

is  the  peril  of  waters,  winds  and  rocks.  The  man  is, 
notwithstanding,  sufficient.  Three  thousand  ducats; 
I  think  I  may  take  his  bond. 

Bassanio. — Be  assured  you  may. 

Shylock. — I  "will  be  assured  I  may;  and,  that  I  may 
be  assured,  I  will  bethink  me. 

—I,  iii. 

Gratiano. — Now,  by  my  hood,  a  Gentile  and  no  Jew. 
Lorenzo. — Beshrew  me,  but  I  love  her  heartily ; 
For  she  is  wise,  if  I  can  judge  of  her, 
And  fair  she  is,  if  that  mine  eyes  be  true, 
And  true  she  is,  as  she  hath  proved  herself; 

—II,  vi. 

Bassanio. —  Sweet  Portia, 

If  you  did  know  to  whom  I  gave  the  ring, 
If  you  did  know  for  whom  I  gave  the  ring, 
And  would  conceive  for  what  I  gave  the  ring, 
And  how  unwillingly  I  left  the  ring, 
When  nought  would  be  accepted  but  the  ring, 
You  would  abate  the  strength  of  your  displeasure. 

-V,i. 

Man,  who  art  thou  who  dost  deny  my  words? 
Truth  sits  upon  the  lips  of  dying  men, 
And  falsehood,  while  I  lived,  was  far  from  mine. 
— ARNOLD:   Sohrab  and  Rustum. 

Thou  dost  not  slay  me,  proud  and  boastful  man ! 
No!  Rustum  slays  me,  and  this  filial  heart. 
For  were  I  match'd  with  ten  such  men  as  thee, 
And  I  were  that  which  till  today  I  was, 
They  should  be  lying  here,  I  standing  there. 

—Ibid. 
Neither  a  borrower  nor  a  lender  be. 

Kings  will  be  tyrants  from  policy  when  subjects  are 
rebels  from  principle. 


164    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Study  the  following  excerpts  for  the  Central  Idea. 
Then  read  aloud: 

A  lie  which  is  all  a  lie,  may  be  met  and  fought  with 

outright, 

But  a  lie  which  is  part  a  truth  is  a  harder  matter  to  fight. 
— TENNYSON:    The  Grandmother. 

None  dared  withstand  him  to  his  face, 
But  one  sly  maiden  spake  aside: 
"The  little  witch  is  evil-eyed, 
Her  mother  only  killed  a  cow, 
Or  witched  a  churn,  or  dairy-pan, 
But  she,  forsooth,  must  charm  a  man." 

Heard  melodies  are  sweet,  but  those  unheard 
Are  sweeter;  therefore,  ye  soft  pipes,  play  on. 

— KEATS:    Ode  on  a  Grecian  Urn. 

To  reign  is  worth  ambition,  though  in  hell; 
Better  to  reign  in  hell,  than  serve  in  heaven ! 

— MILTON:    Paradise  Lost. 

Sir  Peter.  Very  well,  ma'am,  very  well!  So  a  hus- 
band is  to  have  no  influence — no  authority ! 

Lady  Teazle.     Authority?     No,  to  be  sure!      If  you 
wanted  authority  over  me,  you  should  have  adopted  me, 
and  not  married  me ;  I  am  sure  you  were  old  enough ! 
— SHERIDAN  :    The  School  for  Scandal. 

We  live  in  deeds,  not  years;  in  thought,  not  breath; 
In  feelings .  not  in  figures  on  a  dial ; 
We  should  count  time  by  heart-throbs.    He  most  lives, 
Who  thinks  most,  feels  the  noblest,  acts  the  best. 

— BAILEY  :   Festut. 

Miss  Kindly  is  aunt  to  everybody,  and  has  been  so 
long  that  none  remember  to  the  contrary.  The  little 
children  love  her;  she  helped  their  grandmothers  to 
bridal  ornaments  three-score  years  ago. — PARKER. 


CENTRAL  IDEA  165 

And  there  shall  be  no  night  there;  and  they  need  no 
candle,  neither  light  of  the  sun ;  for  the  Lord  God  giveth 
them  light:  and  they  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever. — 
THE  BIBLE. 

We  spend  our  years  like  a  tale  that  is  told.  The  days 
of  our  years  are  three  score  years  and  ten;  and  if  by 
reason  of  strength  they  be  four-score  years,  yet  is  their 
strength  labor  and  sorrow;  for  it  is  soon  cut  off,  and  we 
fly  away. — THE  BIBLE. 

For  I  was  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat:  I  was 
thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink:  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye 
took  me  in. 

Naked,  and  ye  clothed  me:  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited 
me:  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  me. — THE  BIBLE. 

Crabbed  age  and  youth  cannot  live  together : 

Youth  is  full  of  pleasance,  age  is  full  of  care ; 

Youth  like  summer  morn,  age  like  winter  weather ; 

Youth  like  summer  brave,  age  like  winter  bare. 

Youth  is  full  of  sport,  age's  breath  is  short ; 

Youth  is  nimble,  age  is  lame ; 

Youth  is  hot  and  bold,  age  is  weak  and  cold ; 

Youth  is  wild,  and  age  is  tame. 

Age,  I  do  abhor  thee ;  youth,  I  do  adore  thee ; 

O,  my  love,  my  love  is  young ! 

Age,  I  do  defy  thee:  O,  sweet  shepherd,  hie  thee, 

For  methinks  thou  stay'st  too  long. 

— SHAKESPEARE:    The  Passionate  Pilgrim. 

Touchstone.    How  old  are  you,  friend  ? 
William.    Five  and  twenty,  sir. 
Touchstone.    A  ripe  age.    Is  thy  name  William? 
William.    William,  sir. 

Touchstone.  A  fair  name.  Wast  born  i'  the  forest 
here? 

William.    Ay,  sir,  I  thank  God. 


166    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Touchstone.    "Thank  God" ;  a  good  answer.  Art  rich  ? 
William.    Faith,  sir,  so  so. 

Touchstone.    "So  so"  is  good,  very  good, — very  excel- 
lent good:  and  yet  it  is  not;  it  is  but  so  so. 

— As  You  Like  It,  V,  i. 

Othello.  .  .  .  she  thank'd  me, 
And  bade  me,  if  I  had  a  friend  that  loved  her, 
I  should  but  teach  him  how  to  tell  my  story, 
And  that  would  woo  her.     On  this  hint  I  spake: 
She  loved  me  for  the  dangers  I  had  passed, 
And  I  loved  her  that  she  did  pity  them. 
This  only  is  the  witchcraft  which  I  have  used. 

— Othello,   I,  iii. 

Salisbury.     Therefore,   to  be   possess'd   with    double 

pomp, 

To  guard  a  title  that  was  rich  before, 
To  gild  refined  gold,  to  paint  the  lily, 
To  throw  a  perfume  on  the  violet, 
To  smooth  the  ice,  or  add  another  hue 
Unto  the  rainbow,  or  with  taper-light 
To  seek  the  beauteous  eye  of  heaven  to  garnish, 
Is  wasteful  and  ridiculous  excess. 

— King  John,  IV,  ii. 

Brutus.    He  hath  the  falling  sickness. 
Cassius.    No,  Caesar  hath  it  not;  but  you  and  I, 
And  honest  Casca,  we  have  the  falling  sickness. 

— Julius  Caesar,  I,  ii. 

Cassius.    And  this  man 
Is  now  become  a  god,  and  Cassius  is 
A  wretched  creature  and  must  bend  his  body, 
If  Caesar  carelessly  but  nod  on  him. 
He  had  a  fever  when  he  was  in  Spain, 
And  when  the  fit  was  on  him,  I  did  mark 


CENTEAL  IDEA  167 

How  he  did  shake :  'tis  true,  this  god  did  shake : 
His  coward  lips  did  from  their  color  fly ; 
And  that  same  eye  whose  bend  doth  awe  the  world 
Did  lose  his  lustre.  — Ibid. 

Brutus.    That  you  do  love  me,  I  am  nothing  jealous; 
What  you  would  work  me  to,  I  have  some  aim ; 
How  I  have  thought  of  this  and  of  these  times, 
I  shall  recount  hereafter;   for  this  present, 
I  would  not,  so  with  love  I  might  entreat  you, 
Be  any  further  moved.     What  you  have  said 
I  will  consider;   what  you  have  to  say 
I  will  with  patience  hear,  and  find  a  time 
Both  meet  to  hear  and  answer  such  high  things. 

— Julius  Caesar,  I,  ii. 

Casca.  I  can  as  well  be  hanged  as  tell  the  manner 
of  it:  it  was  mere  foolery;  I  did  not  mark  it.  I  saw 
Mark  Antony  offer  him  a  crown ; — yet  'twas  not  a  crown 
neither,  'twas  one  of  these  coronets; — and,  as  I  told 
you,  he  put  it  by  once;  but  for  all  that,  to  my  thinking, 
he  would  fain  have  had  it.  Then  he  offered  it  to  him 
again;  then  he  put  it  by  again;  but,  to  my  thinking,  he 
was  very  loath  to  lay  his  fingers  off  it.  And  then  he 
offered  it  a  third  time;  he  put  it  the  third  time  by:  and 
still  as  he  refused  it,  the  rabblement  hooted,  and  clapped 
their  chapped  hands,  and  threw  up  their  sweaty  night- 
caps, and  uttered  such  a  deal  of  stinking  breath  because 
Caesar  refused  the  crown,  that  it  had  almost  choked 
Caesar;  for  he  swounded  and  fell  down  at  it. — Ibid. 

Messala.     It  is  but  change,  Titinius;  for  Octavius 
Is  overthrown  by  noble  Brutus'  power, 
As  Cassius'  legions  are  by  Antony. 

Titinius.    These  tidings  will  well  comfort  Cassius. 

Messala.    Is  not  that  he  that  lies  upon  the  ground  ? 

Titinius.    He  lies  not  like  the  living.     Oh  my  heart ! 

Messala.    Is  not  that  he  ? 


168    INTEBPKETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Titinius.  No,  this  was  he,  Messala, 

But  Cassius  is  no  more, — O  setting  sun, 
As  in  thy  red  rays  thou  dost  sink  to  night, 
So  in  his  red  blood  Cassius'  day  is  set ; 
The  sun  of  Rome  is  set !     Our  day  is  gone ; 
Clouds,  dews,  and  dangers  come ;  our  deeds  are  done ! 
Mistrust  of  my  success  hath  done  this  deed. 

— Ibid.,  V,  iii. 


CHAPTER  X 
GROUP  MOTIVE  AND  CENTRAL  IDEA 

The  student  cannot  get  too  much  practice  in  apply- 
ing the  lessons  he  has  learned  in  the  two  preceding 
chapters.  Literature  wastes  no  words;  every  word, 
every  group  counts,  and  in  no  part  of  reading  is 
attention  and  constant  vigilance  so  necessary  as  in  the 
study  of  Motive  and  of  Central  Idea. 

The  Central  Idea  may  be  shifted  without  changing 
the  Motive;  and  the  Motive  may  change  and  leave 
the  Central  Idea  the  same. 

For  instance:  here  is  a  case  where  the  Motive  is  the 
same  while  the  Central  Idea  changes : 

Are  you  going  out  today? 
Are  you  going  out  today? 

Both  ask  a  question,  but  the  point  of  view  differs. 
Let  us  now  keep  the  same  point  of  view  while  chang- 
ing the  Motive: 

Are  you  going  out  today?   (Won't  you  please  answer?) 
Are  you  going  out  today?    (Stop  your  quibbling  about 
other  people:  tell  me  whether  you  are  going  out.) 

Assert  the  speaker's  Central  Idea  in  the  two  following 
sentences : 

I  am  always  right ! 
I  am  always  right! 

169 


170    INTEEPBETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

* 

The  Motive  of  assertion  remains  the  same  but  the 
Central  Idea  changes  in  each  sentence.  Now  change 
the  Motive  successively  on  the  four  words  to  one  of 
contrast  (which  is  suggested  by  the  parenthetical  re- 
mark ) .  Keep  the  contrast  in  mind  while  reading  aloud. 

I  (not  you)  am  always  right ! 

I  am  (in  spite  of  your  denying  it)  always  right ! 

I  am  always  (not  occasionally)  right ! 

I  am  always  right  (not  in  doubt)  ! 

You  have  noticed  not  merely  a  shift  in  the  Central 
Idea,  but  a  peculiar  change  in  the  tune  in  each  reading. 
But  (and  it  is  highly  important  to  know  this)  the 
student  who  studies  carefully  the  Motive  in  each 
group  will  not  be  likely  to  miss  the  Central  Idea. 

As  we  leave  these  subjects  it  should  be  emphasized 
that  while  every  group  has  its  Central  Idea,  all  Central 
Ideas  in  a  given  sentence  are  not  necessarily  of  equal 
importance.  Or,  to  put  it  otherwise,  there  is  likely  to 
be  in  every  sentence  one  dominant  idea,  and  it  is  to 
the  discovery  of  that  that  all  your  attention  should  be 
directed.  The  student  should  study  carefully  all  the 
passages  in  this  chapter,  laying  great  stress  on  de- 
termining the  Motive  and  Central  Idea  in  every 
sentence. 

The  mountain  and  the  squirrel 

Had  a  quarrel; 

And  the  former  called  the  latter  "Little  Prig." 

Bun  replied, 

"You  are  doubtless  very  big; 

But  all  sorts  of  things  and  weather 

Must  be  taken  in  together, 


GROUP,  MOTIVE  AND  CENTRAL  IDEA 

To  make  up  a  year 

And  a  sphere. 

And  I  think  it  no  disgrace 

To  occupy  my  place. 

If  I'm  not  so  large  as  you, 

You  are  not  so  small  as  I, 

And  not  half  so  spry. 

I'll  not  deny  you  make 

A  very  pretty  squirrel  track ; 

Talents  differ;  all  is  well  and  wisely  put; 

If  I  cannot  carry  forests  on  my  back, 

Neither  can  you  crack  a  nut." 

— EMERSON  :    The  Mountain  and  the  Squirrel. 

And  when  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  came,  from 
being  a  poor  poverty-stricken  boy  in  the  morning,  Tom 
Sawyer  was  literally  rolling  in  wealth.  He  had,  beside 
the  things  before  mentioned,  twelve  marbles,  part  of  a 
jew's-harp,  a  piece  of  blue-bottle  glass,  to  look  through, 
a  spool  cannon,  a  key  that  wouldn't  unlock  anything,  a 
fragment  of  chalk,  a  glass-stopper  of  a  decanter,  a  tin 
soldier,  a  couple  of  tadpoles,  six  fire-crackers,  a  kitten 
with  only  one  eye,  a  brass  door-knob,  a  dog-collar — but 
no  dog,  the  handle  of  a  knife,  four  pieces  of  orange-peel, 
and  a  dilapidated  old  window-sash. — MARK  TWAIN: 
Tom  Sawyer. 

Oh,  tell  me,  where  did  Katy  live  ? 

And  what  did  Katy  do  ? 
And  was  she  very  fair  and  young, 

And  yet  so  wicked,  too? 
Did  Katy  love  a  naughty  man, 

Or  kiss  more  cheeks  than  one? 
I  warrant  Katy  did  no  more 

Than  many  a  Kate  has  done. 

— O.  W.  HOI.MK.. 


172    INTEBPBETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

External  heat  and  cold  had  little  influence  on  Scrooge. 
No  warmth  could  warm,  nor  wintry  weather  chill  him. 
No  wind  that  blew  was  bitterer  than  he,  no  falling  snow 
was  more  intent  upon  its  purpose,  no  pelting  rain  less 
open  to  entreaty. — DICKENS  :  A  Christmas  Carol. 

Corin.  ...  I  know  the  more  one  sickens  the  worse 
at  ease  he  is;  and  that  he  that  wants  money,  means 
and  content  is  without  three  good  friends;  that  the 
property  of  rain  is  to  wet  and  fire  to  burn;  that  good 
pasture  makes  fat  sheep,  and  that  a  great  cause  of  the 
night  is  lack  of  the  sun;  that  he  that  hath  learned  no 
wit  by  nature  nor  art  may  complain  of  good  breeding  or 
comes  of  a  very  dull  kindred. — As  You  Like  It,  III,  ii. 

I  had  begun  to  nurse  a  good  deal  of  pride  in  pre- 
siding over  a  table  whereon  was  the  fruit  of  my  own 
industry.  I  thought  I  had  something  to  do  with  those 
vegetables.  But  when  I  saw  Polly  seated  at  her  side 
of  the  table,  presiding  over  the  new  and  susceptible 
vegetables,  flanked  by  the  squash  and  the  beans,  and 
smiling  upon  the  green  corn  and  the  new  potatoes,  as 
cool  as  the  cucumbers  which  lay  sliced  in  ice  before  her, 
and  when  she  began  to  dispense  the  fresh  dishes,  I  saw 
at  once  that  the  day  of  my  destiny  was  over.  You  would 
have  thought  that  she  owned  all  the  vegetables,  and  had 
raised  them  all  from  their  earliest  years.  Such  quiet, 
vegetable  airs  !  Such  gracious  appropriation !  At  length 
I  said: 

"Polly,  do  you  know  who  planted  that  squash,  or  those 
squashes?" 

"James,  I  suppose." 

"Well,  yes;  perhaps  James  did  plant  them  to  a  cer- 
tain extent.  But  who  hoed  them?" 

"We  did." 

"We  did!"  I  said  in  the  most  sarcastic  manner.  "And 
I  suppose  we  put  on  the  sackcloth  and  ashes  when  the 


GROUP  MOTIVE  AND  CENTRAL  IDEA  173 

striped  bug  came  at  four  o'clock  A.  M.,  and  we  watched 
the  tender  leaves,  and  watered  night  and  morning  the 
feeble  plants.  I  tell  you,  Polly,"  said  I,  uncorking  the 
vinegar,  "there  is  not  a  pea  here  that  does  not  represent 
a  drop  of  moisture  wrung  from  my  brow,  nor  a  beet  that 
does  not  stand  for  a  back-ache,  nor  a  squash  that  has 
not  caused  me  untold  anxiety;  and  I  did  hope — but  I 
will  say  no  more." — WARNER:  My  Summer  in  a 
Garden. 

Fair  are  the  flowers  and  the  children,  but  their  subtle 
suggestion  is  fairer; 

Rare  is  the  rose-burst  of  dawn,  but  the  secret  that  clasps 
it  is  rarer; 

Sweet  the  exultance  of  song,  but  the  strain  that  precedes 
it  is  sweeter; 

And  never  was  poem  yet  writ,  but  the  meaning  out- 
mastered  the  meter. 

Never  a  daisy  that  grows,  but  a  mystery  guideth  the 
growing; 

Never  a  river  that  flows,  but  a  majesty  scepters  the 
flowing; 

Never  a  Shakespeare  that  soared,  but  a  stronger  than  he 
did  enfold  him; 

Never  a  prophet  foretells,  but  a  mightier  seer  hath  fore- 
told him. 

— REALF  :     Indirection. 

(It  would  appear  that  the  preferable  interpretation  is 
to  regard  the  clauses  that  begin  the  first  three  lines 
of  the  above  as  complete  in  themselves.  Yet  the  poet 
might  have  taken  for  granted  that  everyone  accepted 
the  truth  in  those  clauses,  as  if  to  say  "Although 
everyone  agrees  that,"  etc.  The  melody  will  show  how 
you  regard  this.) 


174    INTEKPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

lago.     Who  steals  my  purse  steals  trash;  'tis  some- 
thing, nothing; 

'Twas  mine,  'tis  his,  and  has  been  slave  to  thousands ; 
But  he  that  filches  from  me  my  good  name 
Robs  me  of  that  which  not  enriches  him 
And  makes  me  poor  indeed. 

—Othello,  III,  iii. 

Hamlet.    Indeed,  indeed,  sirs,  but  this  troubles  me. 
Hold  you  the  watch  to-night? 

Marcellus]  TTT     ,  ,     , 

T>  i    t  Vve  do,  my  lord. 

Bernardo  j 

Hamlet.     Arm'd,  say  you? 

Marcellus} 

„  j    (  Arm  d,  my  lord. 

Bernardo  ) 

Hamlet.    From  top  to  toe? 

My  lord,  from  head  to  foot. 
Bernardo  ] 

Hamlet.    Then  saw  you  not  his  face? 

Horatio.    O,  yes,  my  lord;  he  wore  his  beaver  up. 

Hamlet.    What,  look'd  he  frowningly? 

Horatio.    A  countenance  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger. 

Hamlet.    Pale  or  red? 

Horatio.    Nay,  very  pale. 

Hamlet.  And  fix'd  his  eyes  upon  you? 

Horatio.    Most  constantly. 

Hamlet.  I  would  I  had  been  there. 

Horatio.    It  would  have  much  amazed  you. 

Hamlet.    Very  like,  very  like.     Stay'd  it  long? 

Horatio.    While  one  with  moderate  haste  might  tell  a 
hundred. 

Marcellus] 

Bernardo  \ 

Horatio.     Not  when  I  saw  't. 

Hamlet.  His  beard  was  grizzled, — no? 

Horatio.     It  was,  as  I  have  seen  it  in  his  life, 
A  sable  silver 'd. 


GROUP  MOTIVE  AND  CENTRAL  IDEA  175 

Hamlet.  I  will  watch  to-night; 

Perchance  'twill  walk  again. 

— Hamlet,  I,  ii. 

Portia.  By  my  troth,  Nerissa,  my  little  body  is 
aweary  of  this  great  world. 

Nerissa.  You  would  be,  sweet  madam,  if  your  miseries 
were  in  the  same  abundance  as  your  good  fortunes  are: 
and  yet,  for  aught  I  see,  they  are  as  sick  that  surfeit 
with  too  much  as  they  that  starve  with  nothing.  It  is  no 
mean  happiness,  therefore,  to  be  seated  in  the  mean: 
superfluity  comes  sooner  by  white  hairs,  but  competency 
lives  longer. 

Portia.    Good  sentences  and  well  pronounced. 

Nerissa.    They  would  be  better,  if  well  followed. 

Portia.  If  to  do  were  as  easy  as  to  know  what  were 
good  to  do,  chapels  had  been  churches  and  poor  men's 
cottages  princes'  palaces.  It  is  a  good  divine  that  fol- 
lows his  own  instructions:  I  can  easier  teach  twenty 
what  were  good  to  be  done,  than  be  one  of  the  twenty  to 
follow  mine  own  teaching.  The  brain  may  devise  laws 
for  the  blood,  but  a  hot  temper  leaps  o'er  a  cold  decree: 
such  a  hare  is  madness  the  youth,  to  skip  o'er  the  meshes 
of  good  counsel  the  cripple.  But  this  reasoning  is  not 
in  the  fashion  to  choose  me  a  husband.  O  me,  the  word 
"choose !"  I  may  neither  choose  whom  I  would  nor  re- 
fuse whom  I  dislike;  so  is  the  will  of  a  living  daughter 
curbed  by  the  will  of  a  dead  father.  Is  it  not  hard, 
Nerissa,  that  I  cannot  choose  one  nor  refuse  none?— 
The  Merchant  of  Venice,  I,  ii. 

Portia.     Go  draw  aside  the  curtains  and  discover 
The  several  caskets  to  this  noble  prince. 
Now  make  your  choice. 

Morocco.     The    first,    of   gold,    who    this    inscription 
bears, 


176    INTEKPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

"Who  chooseth  me  shall  gain  what  many  men  desire" ; 
The  second,  silver,  which  this  promise  carries, 
"Who  chooseth  me  shall  get  as  much  as  he  deserves" ; 
This  third,  dull  lead,  with  warning  all  as  blunt, 
"Who  chooseth  me  must  give  and  hazard  all  he  hath." 
How  shall  I  know  if  I  do  choose  the  right? 

Portia.     The  one  of  them  contains  my  picture,  prince : 
If  you  choose  that,  then  I  am  yours  withal. 

Morocco.     Some  god  direct  my  judgment!      Let  me 

see; 

I  will  survey  the  inscriptions  back  again. 
What  says  this  leaden  casket? 

"Who  chooseth  me  must  give  and  hazard  all  he  hath." 
Must  give :  for  what  ?   for  lead  ?  hazard  for  lead  ? 
This  casket  threatens.     Men  that  hazard  all 
Do  it  in  hope  of  fair  advantages : 
A  golden  mind  stoops  not  to  show  of  dross ; 
I'll  then  nor  give  nor  hazard  aught  for  lead. 
What  says  the  silver  with  her  virgin  hue? 
"Who  chooseth  me  shall  get  as  much  as  he  deserves." 
As  much  as  he  deserves !    Pause  there,  Morocco, 
And  weigh  thy  value  with  an  even  hand : 
If  thou  be'st  rated  by  thy  estimation, 
Thou  dost  deserve  enough;  and  yet  enough 
May  not  extend  so  far  as  to  the  lady : 
And  yet  to  be  afeard  of  my  deserving 
Were  but  a  weak  disabling  of  myself. 
As  much  as  I  deserve !     Why,  that's  the  lady : 
I  do  in  birth  deserve  her,  and  in  fortunes, 
In  graces  and  in  qualities  of  breeding; 
But  more  than  these,  in  love  I  do  deserve. 
What  if  I  stray 'd  no  further,  but  chose  here  ? 

— Ibid. 


GROUP  MOTIVE  AND  CENTRAL  IDEA  177 

Morocco.     Let's  see  once  more  this  saying  graved  in 

gold; 

"Who  chooseth  me  shall  gain  what  many  men  desire." 
Why,  that's  the  lady ;  all  the  world  desires  her ; 
From  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  they  come, 
To  kiss  this  shrine,  this  mortal-breathing  saint: 
The  Hyrcanian  deserts  and  the  vasty  wilds 
Of  wide  Arabia  are  as  throughfares  now 
For  princes  to  come  view  fair  Portia: 
The  watery  kingdom,  whose  ambitious  head 
Spits  in  the  face  of  heaven,  is  no  bar 
To  stop  the  foreign  spirits,  but  they  come, 
As  o'er  a  brook,  to  see  fair  Portia. 
One  of  these  three  contains  her  heavenly  picture. 
Is't  like  that  lead  contains  her?     'Twere  damnation 
To  think  so  base  a  thought :  it  were  too  gross 
To  rib  her  cerecloth  in  the  obscure  grave. 
Or  shall  I  think  in  silver  she's  immured, 
Being  ten  times  undervalued  to  tried  gold  ? 
O  sinful  thought !     Never  so  rich  a  gem 
Was  set  in  worse  than  gold.     They  have  in  England 
A  coin  that  bears  the  figure  of  an  angel 
Stamped  in  gold,  but  that's  insculp'd  upon ; 
But  here  an  angel  in  a  golden  bed 
Lies  all  within.     Deliver  me  the  key : 
Here  do  I  choose,  and  thrive  I  as  I  may ! 

— Ibid.,  II,  vii. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PUNCTUATION 

They  tell  a  story  in  Germany  of  the  principal  of  a 
high  school  who  entered  a  classroom  when  the  teacher 
of  English  was  giving  a  lesson  in  punctuation,  and 
particularly  on  the  use  of  the  comma.  The  principal 
did  not  believe  in  this  kind  of  instruction  and  told  the 
teacher  so,  who,  after  the  principal  had  gone,  wrote 
these  words  on  the  blackboard : 

The  teacher  says  the  principal  is  a  fool. 

When  the  principal  saw  the  teacher  again  he  was  very 
angry  and  said,  "What  do  you  mean  by  calling  me  a 
fool?"  and  the  principal  wrote  the  sentence  on  the 
blackboard.  The  teacher  replied,  "Oh,  yes,  that's 
what  I  wrote;  but  you  said,  Mr.  Principal,  that 
commas  didn't  make  any  difference,  so  I  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  them;  but  if  you  had  not  objected  I  should 
have  written  the  sentence  like  this : 

The  teacher,  says  the  principal,  is  a  fool !" 

From  this  little  story  one  can  learn  how  important 
even  a  comma  may  be.  True,  carelessness  in  the  use 
of  the  comma  will  not  always  make  as  much  difference 
as  it  did  in  the  story,  but  if  you  are  to  interpret  the 
printed  page  accurately  you  must  bear  in  mind  that 

178 


PUNCTUATION  179 

those  who  write  use  marks  of  punctuation  with  great 
care,  and  their  object  is  to  help  us  get  the  meaning 
with  as  little  effort  as  possible — at  least  as  far  as 
punctuation  can  help.  Note,  too,  what  a  great  dif- 
ference the  commas  make  in  our  vocal  expression.  It 
is  not  a  question  of  pausing  either,  for  whether  you 
pause  or  not  after  "teacher"  and  after  "principal," 
unless  you  see  that  the  commas  indicate  that  the 
phrase  "says  the  principal"  is  subordinate  you  will 
give  the  wrong  impression  to  your  listener.  Now 
read  aloud  these  two  sentences: 

Playing  children  are  happy. 
Playing,  children  are  happy. 

Here  again  you  see  how  great  a  difference  in  the 
meaning  is  made  by  the  comma,  and  how  naturally 
your  vocal  expression  changes  according  to  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  the  comma. 

Another  very  interesting  example  is : 

I  received  another  letter,  from  New  York,  yesterday. 

If  you  take  out  the  commas,  does  it  make  any  differ- 
ence? If  you  think  it  does,  then  read  the  sentence 
aloud,  showing  two  interpretations.  That  sentence  is 
taken  from  a  long  correspondence  between  two  firms, 
which  threatened  at  one  time  to  lead  to  a  serious  busi- 
ness complication.  It  would  take  too  long  to  explain 
the  circumstances,  but  as  an  exercise  invent  conditions 
wherein  the  omission  of  the  commas  might  make  a 
great  deal  of  trouble  in  certain  business  negotiations. 


180    INTEBPEETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

The  exercise  is  far  more  worth  while  than  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  task  seems  to  indicate. 

In  the  next  passage  how  great  a  difference  is  made 
in  the  sense  and  the  vocal  expression  because  of  the 
commas : 

On  this  shelf  put  books  and  magazines  published  in 
1910. 

On  this  shelf  put  books,  and  magazines  published  in 
1910. 

Punctuation  points  are  to  assist  the  reader  to  un- 
derstand the  writer's  meaning.  In  studying  composi- 
tion, students  learn  something  of  punctuation,  but 
experience  forces  me  to  believe  that  most  of  them  fall 
far  short  of  mastering  even  the  simplest  principles. 
Consequently  when  it  comes  to  interpreting  the 
printed  page,  the  punctuation  is  often  ignored  or 
entirely  misunderstood.  One  overlooks  the  fact  that 
writers,  and  especially  those  whose  work  is  called  liter- 
ature, employ  punctuation  with  greatest  care  and  dis- 
crimination :  to  overlook  it  is  often  to  fail  to  get  the 
meaning. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  COMMA 

In  the  introductory  paragraphs  I  called  your  atten- 
tion to  the  important  part  a  comma  could  play  in  a 
simple  sentence.  Now  note  how  the  comma  helps 
you  to  get  the  meaning  rather  more  quickly  and  with 
greater  certainty  than  you  could  if  it  were  omitted. 
Punctuation  points  are  frequently  so  used.  To  re- 
peat: first,  they  prevent  misinterpretation;  secondly, 
they  help  us  to  get  the  interpretation  more  quickly. 


PUNCTUATION  JgJ 

The  father  of  William  says  Frank  compelled  him  to 
keep  at  his  studies. 

Can  you  understand  that  ?    And  again : 

"The  father  of  William,"  says  Frank,  "compelled  him 
to  keep  at  his  studies." 

Leaving  the  quotation  marks  out  of  consideration, 
what  a  striking  effect  is  produced  by  those  little 
commas ! 

Does  not  the  comma  in  the  second  of  the  next  sen- 
tences spare  you  the  necessity  of  a  second  reading? 

Although  genius  commands  admiration  character  most 
commands  respect. 

Although  genius  commands  admiration,  character  most 
commands  respect. 

Note  how  commas  help  in  the  next  passage: 

In  youth  we  lay  the  foundation,  in  mature  years  we 
huild  the  structure,  of  a  life. 

Recognizing  that  "of  a  life"  modifies  "foundation" 
as  well  as  "structure"  (which  we  are  helped  to  do  by 
the  commas)  see  how  our  vocal  expression  brings  out 
the  meaning. 

What  difference  do  you  note  in  these  two  sentences  ? 
Read  them  aloud: 

The  house  of  Gordon  the  baker  was  robbed. 
The  house  of  Gordon,  the  baker,  was  robbed. 

In  Julius  Caesar,  Brutus  says  to  Cassius,  with  whom 
he  has  been  engaged  in  a  long  conversation  about 
Caesar : 


182    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

But,  look  you,  Cassias, 
The  angry  spot  doth  glow  on  Caesar's  brow. 

Change  the  punctuation  thus  and  see  the  difference: 

But,  look,  you  Cassius,  etc. 
But  look,  you  Cassius,  etc. 
But  look  you,  Cassius,  etc. 

(What  does  "but"  mean  in  the  second  and  third  sen- 
tences ?  ) 

In  the  same  play  Cassius  is  trying  to  find  out 
whether  Casca  will  join  the  conspiracy  to  kill  Caesar, 
and  pretends  that  it  suddenly  occurs  to  him  that 
Casca  may  be  a  friend  of  Caesar's,  and  that,  conse- 
quently, Casca  may  tell  Caesar.  Then  Casca  says: 

You  speak  to  Casca,  and  to  such  a  man 

That  is  no  fleering  tell-tale.     Hold,  my  hand. 

Twice  have  I   seen  actors   thrust   out  their  hand  to 
Cassius  and  read  the  words  thus: 

Hold  my  hand. 

Very  good  sense,  but  in  this  case,  nonsense. 

There  is  a  rule  of  punctuation  which  reads  some- 
thing like  this:  "When  two  or  more  words  in  the 
same  construction  are  connected  by  and,  or,  or  nor, 
no  comma  must  be  placed  between  them";  and  such 
an  example  as  the  following  is  given: 

He  was  told  that  his  home  and  his  farm  and  his  store 
were  to  be  taken  from  him. 


PUNCTUATION  183 

And  for  all  practical  purposes  the  rule  suffices:  the 
sense  is  quite  clear  without  commas;  but  why  do  the 
writers  of  the  following  excerpts  violate  this  principle  ? 

Who  to  the  enraptured  heart,  and  ear,  and  eye 
Teach  beauty,  virtue,  truth,  and  love,  and  melody. 

Saying  with  a  great  voice,  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that 
hath  been  slain  to  receive  the  power,  and  the  riches,  and 
wisdom,  and  might,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing. 
And  every  created  thing  which  is  in  the  heaven,  and  on 
the  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  on  the  sea,  and  all 
things  that  are  in  them,  heard  I  saying,  Unto  him  that 
sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb,  be  the  bless- 
ing, and  the  honor,  and  the  glory,  and  the  dominion,  for 
ever  and  ever. — Revelation,  V,  12,  13. 

The  answer  to  our  question  is,  that  in  order  to  empha- 
size the  details  (each  one  of  which  is  a  whole  in  itself, 
or  of  so  great  importance  that  it  must  be  drawn  to 
the  reader's  attention)  each  is  set  off  by  commas. 

And  in  the  second  passage  particularly  what  weight 
and  importance  are  given  to  the  details  by  the  simple 
device  of  violating  a  rule!  The  comma  then  becomes  a 
mark  of  emphasis  to  those  who  know  the  rule,  and 
who,  knowing,  are  struck  with  the  unusual  and  unex- 
pected commas. 

There  is  nowhere  more  disagreement  among  writers 
than  in  the  use  of  a  comma  before  the  last  "and" 
where  three  or  more  words  occur  in  the  same  con- 
struction, connected  by  "and."  Some  write : 

The  lecture  was  beautifully,  elegantly,  and  forcibly 
delivered. 


184    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Others  omit  the  comma  before  "and";  but  the  best 
usage  favors  the  former  method  and  with  good  reason ; 
for  the  eye  not  being  arrested  by  the  comma  is  likely 
to  run  the  two  groups  together,  with  the  result  that 
the  attention  is  distributed  over  the  two  ideas  instead 
of  being  concentrated  on  one  at  a  time.  But  in  some 
authors  we  cannot  tell  what  a  passage  means,  because 
they  do  not  use  the  comma  in  the  way  we  are  consid- 
ering. Hence,  the  absence  of  a  comma  in  such  illus- 
trations as  follow  is  likely  seriously  to  mislead.  For 
instance,  how  many  mines  are  spoken  of  in  the  first 
sentence?  how  many  reigns  in  the  second? 

They  control  the  following  mines:  the  Central,  and 
Copper  Falls,  and  Mohawk,  and  Calumet  and  Hecla. 

It  was  part  of  the  law  of  the  land  during  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  and  James  I,  and  Charles  I,  and  William 
and  Mary. 

Now  "Calumet  and  Hecla"  is  the  name  of  one  mine, 
as  "William  and  Mary"  designates  one  reign.  If, 
however,  I  am  not  certain  how  an  author  uses  commas 
in  such  constructions,  I  have  no  means  of  knowing 
whether  Calumet  and  Hecla  are  two  mines  or  one.  In 
fact,  I  should,  unless  I  had  definite  knowledge  to  the 
contrary,  imagine  they  were  two.  So  also  with  the 
reign  of  "William  and  Mary." 

Since,  however,  there  is  no  uniformity  among 
authors  in  the  use  of  commas  in  this  connection,  the 
student  is  advised  to  guard  against  running  groups 
together  just  because  there  happens  to  be  no  comma 
separating  them;  and  on  the  other  hand,  and  this  is 


PUNCTUATION  Ig5 

very  important,  when  a  careful  author  omits  commas 
between  groups  connected  by  "and"  there  is  always 
a  reason  for  it  and  that  reason  generally  is  that  he 
wants  the  absence  of  the  comma  to  suggest  that  all 
the  groups  go  to  form  one  idea.  Bear  in  mind  then 
in  reading  aloud,  that  the  comma  does  not  in  itself 
indicate  a  pause,  nor  does  the  absence  of  the  comma 
indicate  there  is  no  pause.  Each  case  must  be  decided 
by  itself.  The  following  passages  may  sharpen  your 
wits  and  help  you  to  a  finer  discrimination  in  this 
problem : 

He  could  write,  and  cipher  too. 

In  such  a  case  he  is  entitled  to  take  all  the  crops,  and 
wood  for  fuel. 

Interest  and  ambition,  honor  and  shame,  gratitude 
and  revenge,  are  the  prime  movers  in  public  transactions. 

But  whether  clever  or  dull,  learned  or  ignorant,  clown- 
ish or  polite,  every  man  has  as  good  a  right  to  liberty 
as  to  life. 

From  generation  to  generation,  man,  and  beast,  and 
house,  and  land  have  gone  on  in  succession  here,  re- 
placing, following,  renewing,  repairing  and  being  re- 
paired, demanding  and  getting  more  support. 

Come,  pensive  nun,  devout  and  pure, 
Sober,  steadfast,  and  demure. 

Deaf  to  King  Robert's  threats  and  cries  and  prayers, 
They  thrust  him  from  the  hall  and  down  the  stairs. 

— LONGFELLOW:  Robert  of  Sicily. 


186    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

The  foes  of  Rohab  thrust  the  tongue  in  cheek, 
Smiled  in  their  beards,  and  muttered  each  to  each; 
Fleet  messengers  went  riding  north  and  south 
And  east  and  west  among  the  tribes. 

— BATES  :   The  Sorrow  of  Rohab. 

We  have  a  voice,  with  which  to  pay  the  debt 
Of  boundless  love  and  reverence  and  regret. 

—TENNYSON  :   Ode  on  the  Death 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington. 

And  let  the  land  whose  hearths  he  saved  from  shame 
For  many  and  many  an  age  proclaim 
At  civic  revel  and  pomp  and  game,  etc. 

—  Ibid. 

No  sail  from  day  to  day,  but  every  day 
The  sunrise  broken  into  scarlet  shafts 
Among  the  palms  and  ferns  and  precipices. 

— TENNYSON:  Enoch  Arden. 

In  each  of  the  last  four  passages  there  is  a  unity  pro- 
duced by  omitting  the  commas  before  the  "ands,"  that 
would  be  destroyed  by  breaking  the  sentences  into 
small  groups.  The  vocal  expression  in  the  last  lines 
of  each  selection  clearly  indicates  how  you  interpret 
the  absence  of  the  commas. 

Frequently  a  comma  takes  the  place  of  a  verb  or  of 
a  verb  accompanied  by  other  words.  To  understand 
this  is  to  be  able  to  interpret  such  sentences  as  these : 

Truth  leads  a  man  in  the  ways  of  honor;  deception, 
in  the  ways  of  evil. 

The  criminal  dreads  the  magistrate;  the  rich  man,, 
the  thief. 


PUNCTUATION  Ig7 

A  wise  man  seeks  to  shine  in  himself;  a  fool,  in 
others. 

He  rides  on  a  flaming  car,  and  grasps  in  his  left 
hand  a  quiver  full  of  arrows;  in  his  right,  a  fiery  bow. 

Some  mute,  inglorious  Milton  here  may  rest, 
Some  Cromwell,  guiltless  of  his  country's  blood. 

"Adjective  clauses  and  contracted  adjective  clauses 
used  parenthetically  or  coordinately  are  marked  off  by 
commas."  This  is  a  rule  of  utmost  importance  to 
readers,  and  one  frequently  overlooked. 

The  constitution  of  Brazil,  which  is  based  on  that 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  is  the  only  South 
American  constitution  which  has  not  been  amended. 

Here  we  have  a  coordinate  clause,  "Which  is  based," 
etc.,  and  a  restrictive  clause,  "Which  has  not,"  etc. 
Now  how  can  we  distinguish  the  two  kinds  of  clauses  ? 
The  first  can  be  turned  into  a  complete  independent 
statement  equivalent  to  "and  it  is  based,"  etc. ;  but  we 
cannot  do  that  with  the  second  clause,  because  it  is 
necessary  to  the  completion  of  the  sense:  it  is  in 
reality  an  adjective  equivalent  to  "a-which-has-not- 
been-amended."  Another  way  to  regard  the  sentence 
is,  "The  constitution  of  Brazil  (and  I  want  to  inform 
you  it  is  based  on  that  of  the  United  States)  is  the 
only  unamended  South  American  constitution."  The 
first  clause  could  be  omitted  entirely  and  leave  a  com- 
plete sentence ;  if,  however,  we  omit  the  second  clause, 
the  sentence  would  be  meaningless. 

Another  sentence  further  illustrates  the  principle 
under  discussion: 


188    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

The  schools  in  Chicago  which  are  badly  built,  ought 
to  be  torn  down. 

The  schools  in  Chicago,  which  are  badly  built,  ought 
to  be  torn  down. 

Quite  a  difference!  What  is  it?  And  when  you 
have  answered  that  question,  read  both  sentences  aloud 
and  note  the  difference  in  the  two  readings. 

Explain  the  difference  made  by  the  comma  in  each 
of  the  following  pairs  of  sentences : 

The  ships  bound  for  America  were  poorly  manned. 
The  ships,  bound  for  America,  were  poorly  manned. 

The  employees,  discharged  for  smoking,  will  not  be 
re-engaged. 

The  employees  discharged  for  smoking  will  not  be 
re-engaged. 

The  slaves,  who  were  on  deck,  came  from  Africa. 
The  slaves  who  were  on  deck  came  from  Africa. 

The  children,  playing  their  innocent  games,  were 
arrested. 

The  children  playing  their  innocent  games  were 
arrested. 

Shylock,  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  is  speaking 
to  Bassanio  of  Antonio's  wealth: 

Yet  his  means  are  in  supposition:  he  hath  an  argosy 
bound  to  Tripolis,  another  to  the  Indies;  I  understand, 
moreover,  upon  the  Rialto,  he  hath  a  third  at  Mexico, 
a  fourth  for  England,  and  other  ventures  he  hath, 
squandered  abroad. 


PUNCTUATION  189 

This  is  the  punctuation  of  the  Globe  edition,  but  some 
other  editions  print: 

and  other  ventures  he  hath  squandered  abroad. 

Both  pointings  make  good  sense,  but  I  greatly 
prefer  that  of  the  Globe  edition.  Do  you  agree,  or 
differ?  Why?  Here  is  material  for  an  interesting 
class  discussion,  and  I  think  you  will  learn  from  it 
that  the  comma  or  the  absence  of  it  means  more  than 
just  a  question  of  punctuation;  it  is  a  matter  of 
Shylock's  character. 

In  closing  this  discussion  I  cannot  do  better  than 
quote  the  following  passage  from  De  Quincey,  cited  by 
Prof.  Corson  in  his  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
Milton.  In  America,  particularly,  there  is  a  marked 
tendency  to  reduce  the  use  of  punctuation  marks  to  the 
lowest  minimum ;  and  the  tendency  is  a  wise  one.  But 
there  is  a  danger  of  going  too  far,  as  some  of  the 
examples  cited  suggest.  How  effectively  an  artist 
may  use  commas  Landor  teaches  us.  De  Quincey  is 
speaking  of  Milton  and  Landor,  and  commenting  on 
one  of  the  striking  passages  an  Milton's  drama, 
Samson  Agonwtes.  Samson,  you  remember,  is  ex- 
pected to  free  the  Children  of  Israel  from  the  yoke  of 
the  Philistines;  he  is  the  "great  deliverer";  but  in  a 
moment  of  weakness  he  tells  the  secret  of  his  enor- 
mous strength — his  long  hair — to  Delilah,  who  in  his 
sleep  shears  his  locks  and  then  betrays  him  into  the 
hands  of  his  enemies,  who  put  out  his  eyes,  take  him 
to  Gaza,  their  capital  city,  and  set  him  to  work  as  a 
common  slave.  Now  observe  what  De  Quincey  writes : 


190    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

"Mr.  Landor  makes  one  correction  by  a  simple  im- 
provement in  the  punctuation,  which  has  a  very  fine 
effect.  .  .  .  Samson  says,  .  .  . 

Ask  for  this  great  deliverer  now,  and  find  him 
Eyeless  in  Gaza  at  the  mill  with  slaves, 

Thus  it  is  usually  printed,  that  is,  without  a  comma  in 
the  latter  line ;  'but,'  says  Landor,  'there  ought  to  be 
commas  after  eyeless,  after  Gaza,  after  mitt.'  And 
why?  because  thus,  'the  grief  of  Samson  is  aggravated 
at  every  member  of  the  sentence.' " 

Ask  for  this  great  deliverer  now,  and  find  him 
Eyeless,  in  Gaza,  at  the  mill,  with  slaves. 

What  an  illumination !  And  how  the  voice  with  its 
marked  falling  inflection  on  "eyeless,"  and  "Gaza," 
and  "mill,"  sounds  like  the  slowly  tolled  knell  of  all 
the  hopes  of  "this  great  deliverer." 

INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SEMICOLON 

Since  we  are  not  studying  the  rules  for  the  use  of 
the  semicolon  in  order  to  apply  them,  but  rather  to 
help  us  interpret  them  as  we  find  them  in  literature, 
our  task  is  not  very  difficult.  It  is  well  to  know  how- 
ever that,  simple  as  it  is  to  understand  the  rules,  there 
are  many  passages  that  need  to  be  carefully  studied. 

In  certain  compound  sentences  commas  would  not 
be  sufficiently  significant,  and  there  the  semicolon  is 
used. 

The  entrance  of  the  word  giveth  light ;  it  giveth  under- 
standing to  the  simple. 


PUNCTUATION  191 

Friends  may  desert  him ;  enemies  may  throng  his  way ; 
disaster  may  threaten  him;  bodily  weakness  may  assail 
him;  but  still  with  heroic  courage  he  keeps  on  his  way. 

He  was  courteous,  not  cringing,  to  superiors;  affable, 
not  familiar,  to  equals;  and  kind,  but  not  condescending 
or  supercilious,  to  inferiors. 

The  point  to  be  noted  in  all  these  passages  (which 
are  not  hard  to  understand)  is,  that  the  semicolon 
helps  us  to  follow  the  text,  which,  on  the  one  hand, 
would  be  confused  if  only  commas  were  used ;  and  on 
the  other,  would  have  a  rather  different  meaning  if 
periods  were  substituted.  The  semicolons  act,  as  it 
were,  like  braces  to  keep  certain  large  parts  of  the 
text  together.  For  example: 

An  hour  passed  on;  the  Turk  awoke; 

That  bright  dream  was  his  last; 

He  woke  to  hear  his  sentries  shriek, 

"To  arms !  They  come — the  Greek !  the  Greek !" 

The  student  is  not  to  conclude  from  what  I  have  said 
that  authors  always  make  this  brace  effect  by  means  of 
semicolons.  For  instance,  one  may  see  such  passages 
as,  "If  I  succeed  in  the  venture,  if  I  reach  the  goal  of 
my  ambition,  I  will  never  forget  you."  But  at  least 
we  may  be  certain  that  when  the  semicolon  is  used  it 
generally  indicates  the  kind  of  bracing  I  referred  to. 
Again,  it  is  used  to  mark  off  particulars  under 
such  circumstances  as  we  find  in  the  next  sentences. 
But  note  carefully  that  the  last  particular  is  followed 
by  a  comma  when  it  precedes  the  main  statement,  as 
in  the  first  example. 


192    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

If  we  think  of  glory  in  the  field;  of  wisdom  in  the 
cabinet;  of  the  purest  patriotism;  of  morals  without 
a  stain,  the  august  figure  of  Washington  presents  itself 
as  the  personation  of  all  these  ideas. 

That  Mr.  Thackeray  was  born  in  India,  in  1811 ;  that 
he  was  educated  at  the  Charter  House  and  Cambridge; 
that  he  devoted  himself,  at  first,  to  art,  all  this  has,  with- 
in a  short  time,  been  told  again  and  again. 

If  I  must  make  my  defence  before  this  body;  if  my 
life  must  be  reviewed  in  your  hearing;  if  my  liberty 
and  my  life  depend  upon  your  verdict ;  then  I  must  insist 
that  you  shall  hear  me  patiently,  and  to  the  end. 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a  juris- 
diction foreign  to  our  constitution,  and  unacknowledged 
by  our  laws;  giving  his  assent  to  their  acts  of  pretended 
legislation:  for  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops 
among  us;  for  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  trial,  from 
punishment  for  any  murders  which  they  should  commit 
on  the  inhabitants  of  these  States;  for  cutting  off  our 
trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world;  for  imposing  taxes  on 
us  without  our  consent;  for  depriving  us,  in  many  cases, 
of  the  benefits  of  trial  by  jury;  for  transporting  us  be- 
yond seas  to  be  tried  for  pretended  offences;  for  abol- 
ishing the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a  neighboring 
province,  establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government, 
and  enlarging  its  boundaries,  so  as  to  render  it  at  once 
an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same 
absolute  rule  into  these  Colonies;  for  taking  away  our 
charters,  abolishing  our  most  valuable  laws,  and  altering 
fundamentally  the  forms  of  our  governments;  for  sus- 
pending our  own  legislatures,  and  declaring  themselves 
invested  with  power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases  what- 
soever.— Declaration  of  Independence. 

In  the  final  illustration  are  you  not  helped  to  analyze 
the  thoughts,  to  see  the  various  clauses  in  their  true 


PUNCTUATION  193 

relation  to  the  main  idea,  by  the  semicolons?  And  you 
can  further  see  how  a  recognition  of  the  force  of  the 
semicolons  affects  the  voice,  particularly  in  such  sen- 
tences as  those  that  precede. 

The  semicolon  braces  certain  groups,  but  at  the 
same  time  denotes  that  the  series  of  braced  groups 
unite  to  form  the  one  dominant  idea  of  the  whole 
sentence. 

There  is  sweet  music  here  that  softer  falls 
Than  petals  from  blown  roses  on  the  grass, 
Or  night-dews  on  still  waters  between  walls 
Of  shadowy  granite,  in  a  gleaming  pass; 
Music  that  gentlier  on  the  spirit  lies, 
Than  tir'd  eyelids  upon  tir'd  eyes; 
Music  that  brings  sweet  sleep  down  from  the 
blissful  skies. 

— TENNYSON:    The  Lotus  Eaters. 

You  must  wake  and  call  me  early,  call  me  early,  mother 
dear; 

To-morrow  'ill  be  the  happiest  time  of  all  the  glad  New- 
year; 

Of  all  the  glad  New-year,  mother,  the  maddest  merriest 
day; 

For  I'm  to  be  Queen  o'  the  May,  mother,  I'm  to  be  Queen 

o'  the  May. 

—TENNYSON:   The  May  Queen. 

No  finer  illustration  can  be  found  of  the  discriminat- 
ing use  of  semicolons  than  in  the  next  passage,  from 
Arnold's  Sohrab  and  Return.  Students  who  could 
make  nothing  of  the  passage,  and  who  therefore  failed 
utterly  in  trying  to  read  it  aloud,  have  improved 
their  interpretation  instantly  when  they  came  to  see 
the  force  of  the  semicolons. 


194    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

As  when  some  hunter  in  the  spring  hath  found 

A  breeding  eagle  sitting  on  her  nest, 

Upon  the  craggy  isle  of  a  hill  lake, 

And  pierced  her  with  an  arrow  as  she  rose, 

And  follow'd  her  to  find  where  she  fell 

Far  off; — anon  her  mate  comes  winging  back 

From  hunting,  and  a  great  way  off  descries 

His  huddling  young  left  sole;  at  that,  he  checks 

His  pinion,  and  with  short  uneasy  sweeps 

Circles  above  his  eyry,  with  loud  screams 

Chiding  his  mate  back  to  her  nest;  but  she 

Lies  dying,  with  the  arrow  in  her  side, 

In  some  far  stony  gorge  out  of  his  ken, 

A  heap  of  fluttering  feathers — never  more 

Shall  the  lake  glass  her,  flying  over  it; 

Never  the  black  and  dripping  precipices 

Echo  her  stormy  scream  as  she  sails  by — 

As  that  poor  bird  flies  home,  nor  knows  his  loss. 

So  Rustum  knew  not  his  own  loss,  but  stood 

Over  his  dying  son,  and  knew  him  not. 

— ARNOLD:  Sohrab  and  Rustum. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  COLON 

It  is  not  hard,  as  a  rule,  to  interpret  the  colon, 
but  there  are  times  when  carelessness  will  lead  to  seri- 
ous misinterpretation.  In  the  Ode  on  the  Death  of 
the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Tennyson  is  describing  the 
funeral  procession  of  the  dead  duke : 

Lead  out  the  pageant:   sad  and  slow, 

As  fits  an  universal  woe, 

Let  the  long  lone  procession  go. 

Reading  hurriedly,  a  student  will  pay  no  attention  to 
the  colon  and  read  the  line: 

Lead  out  the  pageant  sad  and  slow; 


PUNCTUATION  195 

and  it  is  not  until  he  reads  further  that  he  finds  that 
the  second  line  is  parenthetical,  and  that  "sad  and 
slow,"  instead  of  modifying  "lead,"  really  modifies 
"let  go."  Or,  to  express  it  another  way :  the  phrase 
"sad  and  slow"  is  separated  on  the  one  hand  from 
"Lead  out  the  pageant"  by  a  colon,  and  by  a  comma 
from  the  next  statement.  A  moment's  reflection,  then, 
shows  us  that  "sad  and  slow"  is  more  closely  joined 
with  what  follows  than  with  what  precedes  it.  The 
thought  closes  with  "pageant"  (the  colon  saying,  so  to 
speak,  "in  the  following  manner")  and  begins  again 
with  "sad  and  slow,"  continuing  with  the  rest  of  the 
description  of  the  pageant. 

Tennyson  has   another   very  effective   use   of  the 
colon,  and  just  where  the  reader  may  overlook  it: 

Nor  rested  thus  content,  but  day  by  day, 
Leaving  her  household  and  good  father,  climb'd 
That  eastern  tower,  and  entering  barr'd  her  door, 
Stript  off  the  case,  and  read  the  naked  shield, 
Now  guess'd  a  hidden  meaning  in  his  arms, 
Now  made  a  pretty  history  to  herself 
Of  every  dint  a  sword  had  beaten  in  it, 
And  every  scratch  a  lance  had  made  upon  it, 
Conjecturing  when  and  where:  this  cut  is  fresh; 
That  ten  years  back;  this  dealt  him  at  Caerlyle; 
That  at  Caerleon;  this  at  Camelot: 
And  ah  God's  mercy,  what  a  stroke  was  there! 
And  here  a  thrust  that  might  have  killed,  but  God 
Broke  the  strong  lance,  and  roll'd  his  enemy  down, 
And  saved  him:  so  she  lived  in  fantasy. 

— TENNYSON:   Lancelot  and  Elaine. 


196    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Lancelot,  the  greatest  warrior  in  King  Arthur's  court, 
has  come  to  Astolat  on  the  way  to  the  tournament. 
Here  he  meets  the  Lord  of  Astolat  and  his  beautiful 
young  daughter  Elaine,  who  falls  in  love  with  him. 
On  leaving  the  castle  he  takes  a  shield  that  is  loaned 
to  him  by  the  Lord  of  Astolat,  leaving  his  own  behind 
with  Elaine.  His  shield  has  many  designs  wrought  all 
over  it  and  many  dents  and  marks  upon  it  where  it 
has  been  struck  by  spears  and  swords  in  the  great 
battles  and  tournaments  fought  by  King  Arthur  and 
his  knights :  fought  at  Camelot,  Caerleon,  and  other 
parts  of  Arthur's  realm. 

Elaine  who  is  a  very  expert  needle-woman  makes  a 
"case,"  or  cover,  for  the  shield  and  embroiders  it  in 
designs  and  colors  exactly  like  those  on  the  shield 
itself,  which  she  kept  in  a  room  of  the  eastern  tower. 

As  you  read  the  passage  the  first  time  you  note  that 
Elaine  is  guessing  where  the  different  "cuts"  on  the 
shield  were  "beaten"  into  it.  Now  read  it  a  second 
time,  noting  carefully  and  counting  each  cut,  and 
then  answer  the  question :  How  many  cuts  were  there  ? 
What  difference  does  the  conclusion  you  reach  regard- 
ing the  number  of  cuts  make  in  your  vocal  expression  ? 
How  does  the  colon  affect  your  interpretation? 

We  have  seen  that  commas  set  off  certain  kinds  of 
small  groups  and  thus  help  us  to  get  the  thought. 
Then  we  learned  that  semicolons  performed  a  similar 
function  with  large  groups.  Now  we  shall  see  that 
colons  have,  as  one  of  their  uses,  a  similar  function. 
The  principle  on  which  this  usage  is  based  no  doubt 
is  the  need  to  convey  to  the  reader  that  from  the 


PUNCTUATION  197 

beginning  to  the  end  of  the  long  sentence  there  is 
really  but  one  theme.  Here  are  some  unusually  good 
illustrations : 

All  is  over  and  done: 

Render  thanks  to  the  Giver, 

England,  for  thy  son. 

Let  the  bell  be  toll'd. 

Render  thanks  to  the  Giver, 

And  render  him  to  the  mould. 

Under  the  cross  of  gold 

That  shines  over  city  and  river, 

There  he  shall  rest  forever 

Among  the  wise  and  the  bold. 

Let  the  bell  be  toll'd : 

And  a  reverent  people  behold 

The  towering  car,  the  sable  steeds : 

Bright  let  it  be  with  his  blazon 'd  deeds, 

Dark  in  its  funeral  fold. 

Let  the  bell  be  toll'd : 

And  a  deeper  knell  in  the  heart  be  knoll'd; 

And  the  sound  of  the  sorrowing  anthem  roll'd 

Thro'  the  dome  of  the  golden  cross ; 

And  the  volleying  cannon  thunder  his  loss; 

He  knew  their  voices  of  old, 

For  many  a  time  in  many  a  clime 

His  captain's  ear  has  heard  them  boom, 

Bellowing  victory,  bellowing  doom : 

When  he  with  those  deep  voices  wrought, 

Guarding  realms  and  kings  from  shame; 

With  those  deep  voices  our  dead  captain  taught 

The  tyrant,  and  asserts  his  claim 

In  that  dread  sound  to  the  great  name, 

Which  he  has  worn  so  pure  of  blame, 

In  praise  and  in  dispraise  the  same, 

A  man  of  well-attemper'd  frame. 


198    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

O  civic  muse,  to  such  a  name, 

To  such  a  name  for  ages  long, 

To  such  a  name, 

Preserve  a  broad  approach  of  fame, 

And  ever-echoing  avenues  of  song. 

—TENNYSON:   Ode  on  the  Death 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington. 

We  perceive  that  the  dial  shadow  has  moved,  but 
we  did  not  see  it  moving;  we  see  that  the  grass  has 
grown,  but  we  did  not  see  it  growing:  so  our  advances 
in  knowledge  consist  of  such  minute  steps  that  they  are 
perceivable  only  by  the  distance. 

He  sunk  to  repose  where  the  red  heaths  are  blended; 

One  dream  of  his  childhood  his  fancy  passed  o'er: 
But  his  battles  are  fought,  and  his  march  it  is  ended; 

The  sound  of  the  bagpipes  shall  wake  him  no  more. 

A  man  can  scarce  allege  his  own  merits  with  mod- 
esty, much  less  extol  them;  a  man  cannot  sometimes 
brook  to  supplicate  or  beg,  and  a  number  of  the  like: 
but  all  these  things  are  graceful  in  a  friend's  mouth, 
which  are  blushing  in  a  man's  own. 

A  much  more  frequent  use  of  the  colon  is  in 
denoting  enumeration: 

Many  countries  have  a  national  flower:  France  the 
lily,  England  the  rose,  Scotland  the  thistle,  etc. 

But  for  those  who  interpret  literature  (rather  than 
for  those  who  write  it),  the  most  important  aspect  to 
understand — and  here  students  all  too  frequently  fail 
utterly — is  that  the  colon  is  very  often  used  to  sep- 
arate a  clause  which  is  grammatically  complete  from 
a  second  clause  which  illustrates  its  meaning,  or  ampli- 
fies it,  as  by  way  of  inference  or  conclusion. 


PUNCTUATION  199 

Avoid  affectation:   it  is  a  contemptible  weakness. 

It  is  dreadful  to  live  in  suspense:  it  is  the  life  of  a 
spider. 

Nor  was  the  religion  of  the  Greek  drama  a  mere  form: 
it  was  full  of  truth,  spirit,  and  power. 

There  is  no  mortal  truly  wise  and  restless  at  the  same 
time:  wisdom  is  the  repose  of  the  mind. 

The  present  life  is  not  wholly  prosaic,  precise,  tame, 
and  finite:  to  the  gifted  eye,  it  abounds  in  the  poetic. 

New  ribbons,  however  make  little  difference  on  the 
whole:  those  who  liked  the  cheap  play  before  will  like 
her  none  the  worse  for  the  change. 

On  the  other  hand,  nobody  had  ever  heard  of  a  Dod- 
son  who  had  ruined  himself:  it  was  not  the  way  of 
that  family. 

There  was  once  a  little  lilac  bush  that  grew  by  a 
child's  window.  It  had  been  a  very  busy  lilac  bush  all 
its  life:  drinking  moisture  from  the  earth  and  making 
it  into  sap;  adding  each  year  a  tiny  bit  of  wood  to  its 
slender  trunk ;  filling  out  its  leaf  buds ;  making  its  leaves 
larger  and  larger ;  and  then — oh,  happy,  happy  time ! 
hanging  purple  flowers  here  and  there  among  its 
branches. 

It  is  not  expected  that,  from  these  studies  and  illus- 
trations, you  will  become  expert  in  the  use  of  punctua- 
tion points :  but  it  is  hoped  that  you  will  be  stimulated 
to  greater  care  in  their  interpretation,  since  we  have 
learned  that  authors  use  them  not  because  the  rules 
of  rhetoric  demand  it,  but  to  make  it  easier  for  readers 
to  understand.  And,  most  of  all,  we  have  learned 
that  to  recognize  the  force  of  a  single  mark  of  punc- 
tuation means  often  the  difference  between  true  and 
false  vocal  interpretation. 


CHAPTER  XII 

PUNCTUATION— Continued 
INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EXCLAMATION  POINT 

The  interpreting  of  the  exclamation  point  is  not 
always  easy,  and  is,  moreover,  frequently  slighted. 
Its  commonest  use  is  in  connection  with  interjections 
and  exclamatory  sentences: 

Oh!  Alas!  Bah! 

How  beautiful  she  is ! 

What  a  piece  of  work  is  man ! 

This  is  apparently  all  very  simple,  but  is  it  really  so? 
Custom  demands  that  interjections  (except  "O")  be 
followed  by  exclamation  marks,  and  no  doubt  the  in- 
tention is  to  suggest  emotion.  But  after  a  while  we 
disregard  this  emotional  suggestion  altogether  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  there  may  be  much  feeling  be- 
hind the  interjection.  To  repeat:  we,  having  become 
used  to  seeing  the  mark  of  exclamation  in  so  many 
places  where  it  does  not  indicate  any  depth  of  feeling, 
come  finally  to  ignore  it  altogether.  We  shall  see 
much  more  of  this  aspect  of  punctuation  when  we 
come  to  study  Emotion,  but  even  at  this  stage  the 
pupil  can  be  guided  by  this  emotional  sign  post. 

200 


PUNCTUATION  201 

But  she  is  in  her  grave,  and,  oh, 
The  difference  to  me! 

— WORDSWORTH:  Lucy. 

Alas  !  Nothing  can  save  him  now  ! 

Oh !  my  offence  is  rank,  it  smells  to  heaven. 

Quick !  Begone !  Out  of  my  sight ! 

Heaven  preserve  us ! 

Would  that  better  feelings  moved  them ! 

O  Lord,  be  merciful  unto  me,  a  sinner ! 

Alas !   all  our  hopes  are  blasted. 

The  mark  of  exclamation  is  used  after  expressions 
of  wonder,  surprise,  fear,  horror,  and  the  like;  after 
command,  and  the  expression  of  a  wish ;  and  is  particu- 
larly effective  in  suggesting  contempt  and  sarcasm. 

They  did  not  fight,  tens  against  thousands;  they  did 
not  fight  for  wives  and  children,  but  for  lands  and  plun- 
der :  therefore  they  are  heroes ! 

He  has  been  laboring  to  prove  that  Shakespeare's 
plays  were  written  by  Bacon ! 

Though  all  are  thus  satisfied  with  the  dispensations  of 
Nature,  how  few  listen  to  her  voice !  how  few  follow 
her  as  a  guide! 

What  a  mighty  work  he  has  brought  to  a  successful 
end,  with  what  perseverance,  what  energy,  with  what 
fruitfulness  of  resource! 

Alas,  noble  spirit,  that  this  should  be  thy  lot! 

Oh  that  your  minds  were  interested  in  this  subject! 


202    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Welcome,  noble  defenders  of  your  country ! 

Venerable  men!  you  have  come  down  to  us  from  a 
former  generation. 

Father  Almighty!  hear  our  prayer. 
Hurrah !  the  day  is  ours ! 

He  asserted  that  the  earth  is  square,  because  if  round 
no  one  could  stand  up  (!)  on  the  opposite  side. 

This  college  graduate  (  !)  could  do  no  better  than  to 
spell  "commendable"  with  one  "m." 

"A  mark  of  exclamation,  and  not  a  point  of  interro- 
gation, is  placed  after  what  are  called  rhetorical  ques- 
tions, or  statements  made  more  striking  by  being  put 
in  the  form  of  questions.  They  are  not  asked  for  the 
sake  of  receiving  a  direct  answer,  and  are  in  reality 
exclamations.  Still  all  rhetorical  questions  are  not 
thus  punctuated;  the  point  of  interrogation  is  some- 
times more  effective."  So  say  the  rhetoricians ;  but 
it  is  well  not  to  attempt  to  set  down  any  definite  rule 
in  this  regard.  I  have  found  much  help  when  in 
doubt  concerning  the  interpretation  by  asking  myself 
whether  a  certain  sentence  interrogative  in  construc- 
tion and  highly  emotional  is  assertive  or  interrogative. 
For  instance,  when  the  great  prophet  asks, 

Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  Earth  do  right? 

I  know,  first,  he  is  not  asking  for  information.  Then 
I  must  decide  which  of  two  motives  he  had  in  mind. 
Did  he  mean  "Is  it  possible  anyone  could  doubt  the 
Righteousness  of  the  Judge?"  Or,  to  put  it  another 


PUNCTUATION  203 

way :  "The  Judge  of  all  the  Earth  cannot  fail  to  do 
right."  But  he  may  have  meant  "Is  it  possible  that 
anyone  in  all  the  world  could  have  the  slightest  doubt 
but  that  the  Judge  of  all  the  Earth  shall  do  right?" 
I  think  the  latter  is  the  correct  interpretation,  for  it 
signifies  to  me  that  the  speaker  is  so  certain  of  his 
judgment  that  it  never  occurs  to  him  (it  makes  no 
difference  whether  he  is  conscious  or  not  of  his  rea- 
soning) to  assert  dogmatically  his  profound  convic- 
tion. 

When  Tennyson  writes,  in  describing  the  glorious 
fight  that  the  English  ship  "The  Revenge"  made 
against  fifty-three  Spanish  vessels: 

God  of  battles,  was  ever  a  battle  like  this  in  the  world 
before  ? 

he  is  essentially  saying  "God  of  battles,  there  never 
was  battle  like  this  in  the  world  before !"  Do  you  see 
the  difference  between  this  Motive  and  that  in  the  other 
illustration  ? 

Macaulay  writes : 

Discipline  of  mind!  say  rather  starvation,  confine- 
ment, torture,  annihilation. 

Let  us  guess  at  the  context.  Let  us  suppose  that 
someone  has  claimed  that  a  certain  study  is  a  disci- 
pline of  mind.  Now,  does  the  author  mean  to  reply 
with  the  contemptuous  assertion  : 

Such  stuff  you  call  mind  discipline !  I  call  it  starva- 
tion, etc. 


204    INTEEPBETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

But  might  it  not  be: 

Are  you  crazy  or  ignorant  enough  to  call  that  stuff 
discipline  ? 

lago  (in  Othello)  tells  Roderigo  that  Desdemona, 
Othello's  wife,  is  in  love  with  Cassio.  Then  cries 
Roderigo : 

W\ith  him !     It  is  not  possible. 

Here  it  is  the  astonishment  overwhelming  the  speaker 
that  gives  to  his  exclamation  the  melody  of  a  question, 
as  if  to  say,  Do  you  possibly  mean  she  can  love  such 
a  man  as  that?  Without  the  exclamation  point  one 
might,  for  a  moment  at  least,  believe  it  was  a  simple 
desire  for  information  that  motivated  Roderigo's 
melody.  As  it  is,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

Julius  Caesar  affords  another  test  of  our  judgment. 
Titinius  and  Cassius  are  much  beloved  by  Brutus. 
Cassius,  defeated,  has  killed  himself,  and  Titinius, 
coming  upon  the  body  of  his  friend,  places  a  wreath 
upon  his  brow  and  falls  on  his  own  sword.  As  the  two 
lie  there  in  death  Brutus  enters  and,  seeing  them,  turns 
to  Cato,  saying: 

Are  yet  two  Romans  living  such  as  these? 
The  last  of  all  the  Romans,  fare  thee  well ! 

Two  interpretations  are  possible.  I  care  not  which 
you  make  provided  you  can  defend  it.  One  expresses 
a  motive  like  that  we  discussed  in  The  Revenge,  which 
can  be  paraphrased  thus: 

No  one  could  conceive  any  other  two  Romans  living 
such  as  these ! 


PUNCTUATION  205 

And  the  other  might  mean : 

Am  I  not  right,  my  dear  friend  Cato,  in  saying  there 
are  no  two  Romans  living  such  as  these? 

It  is  Gratiano  who  asks: 

who  riseth  from  a  feast 
With  that  keen  appetite  that  he  sits  down  ? 
Where  is  the  horse  that  doth  untread  again 
His  tedious  measures  with  the  unbated  fire 
That  he  did  pace  them  first? 

He  expects  no  answer;  but  if  one  come  it  surely  will 
be  "no  one."  His  state  of  mind  is  assertive. 

So  it  all  depends  on  interpretation,  and  it  makes  no 
great  difference  what  interpretation  one  chooses  pro- 
vided it  is  not  guess  work ;  provided  it  has  logic  and 
common  sense  behind  it. 

In  almost  all  of  the  preceding  illustrations,  the 
emotion  was  so  forcefully  expressed  through  the  lan- 
guage that  you  might  have  recognized  it  even  without 
a  special  mark  of  punctuation.  In  other  words,  it  is 
used  merely  to  make  certain  that  the  reader  does  not 
miss  the  feeling. 

The  mark  is  often  placed  after  groups  that  in 
themselves  do  not  appear  to  be  particularly  important. 
In  fact,  authors  frequently  express  an  important 
thought  in  language  so  simple  that  it  apparently  has 
no  great  weight  at  all,  and  then  end  the  sentence  with 
an  exclamation  point  to  signify  the  importance  of  the 
thought,  or  to  stimulate  curiosity  in  a  statement  that 
seems  to  be  of  slight  value,  or  to  indicate  emotion  far 
beyond  the  power  of  mere  words  to  convey. 


206    INTEBPBETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

A  woman  fearing  that  her  lover  may  be  assassinated 
if  he  should  attack  certain  villains  who  want  to  rob 
him  has  a  plan  to  save  him,  but  knows  she  cannot 
carry  it  out  unless  she  can  prevent  him  from  knowing 
it.  The  author  says : 

She  did  not  want  to  arouse  his  wonder,  which  would 
lead  him  straight  to  suspicion.  He  must  not  suspect! — 
CONRAD  :  Victory. 

Here  is  a  similar  example.  Wordsworth's  Michael 
begins  with  a  description  of  a  lonely  spot  in  the 
mountains,  and  continues: 

Nor  should  I  have  made  mention  of  this  dell 
But  for  one  object  which  you  might  pass  by, 
Might  see  and  notice  not.     Beside  the  brook 
There  is  a  straggling  heap  of  unhewn  stones ! 
And  to  that  place  a  story  appertains, 
Which,  though  it  be  ungarnish'd  with  events, 
Is  not  unfit,  I  deem,  for  the  fireside, 
Or  for  the  summer  shade. 

There  is  no  evidence  of  strong  emotion  in  the  sen- 
tence preceded  by  the  exclamation  point,  and  a  care- 
less reader  might  overlook  it  entirely.  Yes,  even  an 
observant  reader  would  have  to  be  particularly  alert 
not  to  "see  and  notice  not"  this  most  unusual  sign  at 
the  close  of  a  sentence  so  simple.  Furthermore,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  lines  before  nor  immediately  after  to 
suggest  in  the  slightest  way  what  we  do  not  see  until 
the  poem  is  well  advanced;  but  when  we  get  to  the 
critical  point  of  the  story  we  learn  that  all  the  pathos 
of  this  great  poem  gathers  about  that  heap  of  stones. 
The  exclamation  point  is,  then,  a  mark  of  emphasis, 


PUNCTUATION  207 

intended  to  center  your  attention  upon  that  pile  of 
stones,  and  perhaps  arouse  your  curiosity  concerning 
it.  A  reader  who  grasps  the  full  significance  of  that 
exclamation  point  will  not  fail  to  express  it  in  his 
voice. 

A  rather  rare  use  of  the  exclamation  point  is  illus- 
trated by  these  two  sentences: 

He  a  patriot ! !     Then  how  we  should  admire  Benedict 
Arnold ! ! 

That  man  virtuous ! !     You  might  as  well  preach  to  me 
of  the  virtue  of  Judas  Iscariot ! ! 

And  occasionally  we  find  passages  like  this: 

To   save   him    I   would   give   all   my   wealth !    all   my 
hopes  of  the  future ! !     Nay,  my  very  life  ! ! ! 

Help!  Help!!  Help!!! 

An  author  in  this  way  conveys  the  growing  intensity 
of  the  emotion,  and  leaves  us  no  choice  but  to  manifest 
that  climax  in  our  vocal  interpretation.  Of  course, 
you  must  use  your  judgment  as  to  the  degree  and 
quality  of  the  emotion;  but  if  you  are  on  the  alert 
for  exclamation  marks,  you  will  often  get  a  meaning 
from  the  text  you  otherwise  might  not  see,  and  fur- 
thermore, having  got  it,  you  will  put  a  meaning  into 
your  vocal  expression  that  will  give  your  listener  an 
insight  into  the  lines  he  would  not  otherwise  get.  The 
exclamation  point  doesn't  tell  you  the  kind  of  emotion 
nor  the  degree,  but  it  arrests  the  attention,  and  your 
imagination  must  do  the  rest. 


208    INTEBPEETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Study  the  following  passages  and  then  express 
through  the  voice  the  feeling  or  mood  suggested  to 
you  by  the  exclamation  mark: 

Would  that  I  had  perished ! 

Hark !  hark !  the  Dauphin's  drum,  a  warning  bell ! 

O  God !  that  men  should  put  an  enemy  in  their  mouths, 
to  steal  away  their  brains  ! — Othello. 

Oh,  how  I  suffer! 

Ho,  trumpets,  sound  a  war  note ! 
Ho,  lictors,  clear  the  way! 

How  discriminating  was  the  speaker  on  that  occa- 
sion !  how  earnest !  how  eloquent !  how  profound ! 

Hail,  candle-light!  without  disparagement  to  sun  or 
moon,  the  kindest  luminary  of  the  three ! — Lamb. 

Oh  for  that  ancient  spirit 

Which  curbed   the  Senate's   will ! — Macaulay. 

O  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove! 

O  that  this  too,  too  solid  flesh  would  melt,  thaw,  and 
resolve  itself  into  a  dew ! — Hamlet. 

He  paid  him  the  delicate  (  !)  compliment  of  calling 
him  the  most  artistic  liar  he  had  ever  listened  to. 

Rouse,  ye  Romans !  rouse,  ye  slaves ! 

Great  Glamis !  worthy  Cawdor !  Greater  than  both  by 
the  all-hail  hereafter! — Macbeth. 

My  valor  is  certainly  going !  it  is  sneaking  off !  I  feel 
it  oozing  out,  as  it  were,  at  the  palms  of  my  hands. 


PUNCTUATION  209 

How  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is 
To  have  a  thankless  child ! 

— King  Lear. 
Long  live  the  King! 

Heaven  forbid ! 

His  subject  was  "The  Wasness  of  the  Isness" ! 

And  the  "professor,"  who  was  advertising  to  teach 
"Oratory"  by  mail  in  twenty  lessons,  went  on  to  say: 
"Nobody  should  leave  this  building  without  making  up 
their  (  !)  mind  to  take  this  course." 

Sink  me  the  ship,  Master  Gunner — sink  her,  split  her 

in  twain ! 

Fall  into  the  hands  of  God,  not  into  the  hands  of  Spain ! 

—TENNYSON  :   The  Revenge. 

Brutus.    O  Julius  Caesar,  thou  art  mighty  yet ! 
Thy  spirit  walks  abroad,  and  turns  our  swords 
In  our  own  proper  entrails. 

Cato.  Brave  Titinius ! 

Look,  whether  he  have  not  crown'd  dead  Cassius ! 

— Julius  Caesar,  V,  iv. 

King  Richard.     A  horse!  a  horse!  my  kingdom  for  a 

horse ! 

Catesby.    Withdraw,  my  lord;  I'll  help  you  to  a  horse. 
King  Richard.    Slave,  I  have  set  my  life  upon  a  cast, 
And  I  will  stand  the  hazard  of  the  die : 
I  think  there  be  six  Richmonds  in  the  field ; 
Five  have  I  slain  to-day  instead  of  him. 
A  horse  !  a  horse  !  my  kingdom  for  a  horse  ! 

— King  Richard  III,  V,  iv. 

Turn  back  again  to  The  Sea,  under  Grouping,  and 
observe   how   much    the   exclamation    mark   suggests. 


210    INTEBPRETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Particularly  in  the  first  line  of  the  third  stanza  how 
it  helps  us  to  appreciate  the  love,  the  j  oy  of  the  sailor ! 
"I  love,"  he  says,  and  then  as  if  that  were  not  enough, 
he  adds  "Oh!  how  I  love  to  ride,"  etc.  But  by  the 
time  most  readers  come  towards  the  end  of  the  stanza, 
they  are  likely  to  forget  the  enthusiasm  with  which  it 
opened.  Suddenly  they  note  the  author's  exclamation 
point,  which  is  his  way  of  telling  us  that  the  emotion 
runs  through  the  whole  stanza.  Then  let  them  go 
back  and  read  the  poem  from  the  beginning,  bearing 
in  mind  the  purpose  of  that  final  exclamation  point, 
and  it  is  more  than  likely  their  voices  will  convey  to 
others  the  joy  out  of  which  the  poem  sprang. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  INTERROGATION  POINT 

If  there  is  one  punctuation  mark  we  feel  sure  of  in- 
terpreting it  is  the  question  mark.  But  are  we  certain  ? 
Does  the  question  mark  always  mean  that  the  speaker 
asks  for  information?  Recall  under  Motive  the  ques- 
tion, "Are  you  going  out?"  and  how,  annoyed  at 
receiving  no  answer,  the  speaker  asserts  his  authority 
with  an  emphatic  repetition  of  the  words  in  the  tone 
of  command.  Grammatically  this  is  a  question,  but, 
as  we  learned  when  we  studied  Motive,  it  is  not  the 
grammar  but  the  purpose  which  determines  the  vocal 
expression.  Hence,  in  the  sentence  we  are  discussing, 
your  melody  will  not  be  one  that  asks  for  information, 
but  which  demands  an  answer.  Writers  recognize  this 
principle  and  often  argue  that  the  interrogation  point 
in  such  a  sentence  as  the  last  illustration  is  really  mis- 
leading, for  if  it  is  used  without  following  it  with 


PUNCTUATION  211 

some  such  explanation  as  "said  I,  in  a  sharp  peremp- 
tory tone,"  or  "said  I,  in  a  tone  demanding  an  an- 
swer," the  reader  would  really  be  in  doubt  as  to  the 
meaning.  When  we  take  up  the  study  of  exclamation 
points  we  shall  see  how  it  is  sometimes  possible  to 
indicate  when  a  group  having  the  structure  of  a  ques- 
tion is  really  not  a  question.  But  since  there  is  no 
common  agreement  among  writers  and  publishers  on 
this  subject  it  is  necessary  to  be  on  one's  guard  against 
taking  for  granted  that  every  sentence  ending  with  a 
mark  of  interrogation  asks  for  information.  Here 
are  several  examples: 

Bassanio.     In  law,  what  plea  so  tainted  and  corrupt 
But,  being  season'd  with  a  gracious  voice, 
Obscures  the  show  of  evil?     In  religion, 
What  damned  error,  but  some  sober  brow 
Will  bless  it  and  approve  it  with  a  text, 
Hiding  the  grossness  with  fair  ornament? 

— The  Merchant  of  Venice,  III,  ii. 

Cassius.     When  went  there  by  an  age,  since  the  great 

flood, 

But  it  was  famed  with  more  than  one  man? 
When  could  they  say  till  now,  that  talk'd  of  Rome, 
That  her  wide  walls  encompass'd  but  one  man? 

— Julius  Caesar,  I,  ii. 

Gloucester.    Was  ever  woman  in  this  humor  woo'd  ? 
Was  ever  woman  in  this  humor  won? 

—Richard  III,  I,  ii. 

These  sentences  really  assert  while  retaining  the  form 
of  a  question;  and  as  literature,  as  appeals  to  the 
imagination,  are  the  assertions  not  more  effective  be- 


212    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

cause  of  their  interrogative  form?  The  student's 
attention  is  called  to  this  fact  not  so  much  because  he 
is  likely  to  be  in  doubt  concerning  the  Motive  of  such 
sentences  as  we  have  been  discussing  as  to  put  him  on 
his  guard  against  that  dangerous  rule  to  "raise  your 
voice  at  a  question  that  can  be  answered  by  yes  or  no." 
You  see,  it  all  depends  on  whether  such  sentences 
really  are  questions.  When  he  decides  that,  he  need 
not  worry  about  the  inflection :  it  will  take  care  of 
itself. 

In  many  cases  an  author  tells  us  that  his  interroga- 
tive sentence  is  really  an  assertion  by  closing  with  an 
exclamation  point  instead  of  a  question  mark.  As : 

How  could  he  have  been  so  foolish ! 

Later  on  we  shall  see  more  of  such  illustrations ;  but 
suppose  an  author  does  not,  through  oversight  or 
carelessness  or  ignorance,  use  the  exclamation  point. 
There  is  nothing  for  the  reader  to  do  but  interpret 
the  sentence  in  the  light  of  the  context,  bearing  always 
in  mind  that  merely  because  a  sentence  ends  with  a 
question  mark  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is,  strictly 
considered,  a  question. 

One  other  use  of  the  question  mark  is  worth  a 
moment's  consideration : 

While  you  are  revelling  in  the  delights  (?)  of  the 
London  season,  I  am  leading  a  hermit  life,  with  no 
companions  save  my  books. 

How  that  mark  affects  the  meaning  and  your  vocal 
expression !  Here,  by  a  simple  device  the  writer  sug- 


PUNCTUATION  213 

gests  more  by  one  punctuation  mark  than  could  be 
said  in  a  dozen  words  of  description.  And  yet  some 
students  read  aloud  that  sentence  with  no  more  regard 
for  the  special  use  of  the  question  mark  than  if  it  had 
not  been  there. 

A  not  dissimilar  use  signifies  that  the  writer  may  be 
in  doubt : 

He  gave  his  name  as  Roger  De  Quincey,  lineal  de- 
scendent  of  the  great  Thomas  De  Quincey  (?). 

This  use  of  the  question  mark  is  very  modern  and  not 
frequently  found,  but  where  it  is,  it  is  highly  signifi- 
cant, as  you  have  seen. 

INTERPRETATION    OF    DASHES,    HYPHENS,    AND 
QUOTATION  MARKS 

When  I  remember  how  we  have  worked  together,  and 
together  borne  misfortune;  when  I  remember — but  what 
avails  it  to  remember? 

And  all  this  story  was  about — what  do  you  think? 

We  cannot  hope  to  succeed,  unless — but  we  must 
succeed. 

The  significant  mark  of  punctuation  in  the  preceding 
passages  is  the  dash.  What  does  it  indicate?  If  there 
were  no  dashes  what  would  be  necessary  to  make  the 
meaning  clear?  One  explanation  will  do  for  the  three 
cases.  After  the  word  preceding  the  dash  we  should 
have  to  say,  "At  this  point  the  speaker  suddenly 
stopped  for  a  moment,  interrupting  himself  in  the 
midst  of  his  sentence,  and  then  abruptly  continued 
with,"  etc.  In  other  words,  these  dashes  mark  an 


214    INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

abrupt  break.  The  author  doesn't  tell  us  the  cause  of 
the  break,  but  the  dash  arrests  our  attention,  shocks 
us,  as  it  were — or  at  least  it  should — into  a  conscious- 
ness that  something  unusual  has  happened  in  the 
course  of  the  speaker's  remarks.  Just  what  happens 
must  be  determined  by  the  student,  who  must  bear  in 
mind  that  that  which  causes  the  break  will  often  affect 
very  perceptibly  the  interpretation,  silent  and  vocal, 
of  what  follows  the  dash.  This  is  very  important  to 
remember.  The  dash  stimulates  the  reader  so  that  he 
is  on  the  alert  for  some  change,  and  unless  he  notices 
it  his  reading  will  be  seriously  marred. 

Now  read  aloud  the  three  sentences  we  have  been 
discussing  and  note  the  complete  change  in  your  de- 
livery of  the  words  after  the  dash,  compared  with 
your  reading  of  those  that  precede  it. 

Sometimes  we  use  the  dash  merely  to  give  a  stronger 
emphasis  than  would  be  suggested  by  the  usual  mark 
of  punctuation.  You  do  not  need  to  know  the  context 
in  the  next  illustration  to  understand  that  the  person 
who  reported  the  speech  from  which  the  excerpt  is 
taken  wanted  to  indicate  something  in  the  speaker's 
delivery  that  commas  would  not  have  indicated,  or 
at  least  would  not  have  indicated  so  certainly  or  so 
immediately. 

Now  where  is  the  revenue  which  is  to  do  all  these 
mighty  things?  Five-sixths  repealed — abandoned — sunk 
— gone — lost  forever. 

Here  you  see  at  once  the  force  of  the  assertiveness, 
the  positiveness  of  the  speaker,  and  these  qualities 


PUNCTUATION  215 

manifest  themselves  in  our  voices  as  we  appreciate  the 
meaning  of  the  dashes  and  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the 
speaker. 

Note  a  very  similar  effect  in  the  next  extract: 

He  entereth  smiling  and — embarrassed.  He  holdeth 
out  his  hand  for  you  to  shake,  and — draweth  it  back 
again.  He  casually  looketh  in  about  dinner  time — 
when  the  table  is  full.  He  offereth  to  go  away,  seeing 
you  have  company — but  is  induced  to  stay. 

Here  the  dash  does  not  signify  a  break  in  the 
grammatical  structure  or  in  the  sequence,  but  a  very 
decided  change  of  mood.  How  much  humor  would  be 
lost  if  one  were  to  read  this  paragraph  ignoring  the 
dashes ! 

Sometimes  the  dash  denotes  a  very  long  pause. 

To  be  or  not  to  be — that  is  the  question. 

We  find  it  used  in  dramatic  literature  to  suggest 
effort,  struggle,  pain. 

I  can't — say — oh!  how  I  suffer! — just — what — did 
happen. 

Since  breaks  in  the  continuity  may  result  from 
many  causes  it  seems  better  for  the  student  to  study 
and  read  aloud  a  large  number  of  excerpts  illustrating 
various  uses  of  the  dash  rather  than  to  try  to  master 
a  great  many  rules. 

Do  we — can  we — send  out  educated  boys  and  girls 
from  the  high  school  at  eighteen? 

This  may  be  said  to  be — but,  never  mind,  we  will  pass 
over  that. 


216    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Then  there  came  a  time — let  us  say,  for  convenience, 
with  Germany  and  France — when  this  method  of  train- 
ing children  had  to  be  stopped. 

If  it  be  asked — and  in  saying  this  I  put  into  one 
phrase  my  whole  theory — why  education  is  so  far  behind 
the  times,  etc. 

Here  we  are  face  to  face  with  a  difficult  problem — 
difficult  because  it  is  a  new  one. 

These  discoveries — gunpowder,  printing-press,  com- 
pass, and  telescope — were  the  weapons  before  which 
the  old  science  trembled. 

Amos,  with  the  idea  that  Jehovah  is  an  upright  judge 
.  .  .;  Hosea,  whose  Master  hated  injustice  and  false- 
hood .  .  . ;  Isaiah,  whose  Lord  would  have  mercy  only 
on  those  who  relieved  the  widow  and  the  fatherless — 
these  were  the  spokesmen. 

This — I  say  it  with  regret — was  not  done. 

I  whipt  him  for  robbing  an  orchard  once  when  he  was 

but  a  child — 
"The  farmer  dared  me  to  do  it,"  he  said ;  he  was  always 

so  wild — 
And   idle — and   couldn't   be   idle — my   Willy — he   never 

could  rest. 

—TENNYSON. 

O  it  is  difficult — life  is  very  difficult !  It  seems  right  to 
me  sometimes  that  we  should  follow  our  strongest  feel- 
ing;— but  then,  such  feelings  continually  come  across 
the  ties  that  all  our  former  life  has  made  for  us — the 
ties  that  have  made  others  dependent  on  us — and  would 
cut  them  in  two. — ELIOT. 


PUNCTUATION  217 

We  shall  march  prospering, — not  thro'  his  presence; 

Songs  may  inspirit  us, — not  from  his  lyre ; 
Deeds  will  be  done, — while  he  boasts  his  quiescence, 

Still  bidding  crouch  whom  the  rest  bade  aspire. 

— BROWNING:  The  Lost  Leader. 

Protestant  visitors  being  then  rare  in  Auvergne,  and 
still  more,  reverent  and  gentle  ones,  she  gave  her  pretty 
curiosity  free  sway;  and  enquired  earnestly  of  us,  what 
sort  of  creatures  we  were, — how  far  we  believed  in  God, 
or  tried  to  be  good,  or  hoped  to  get  to  heaven? — RUSKIN. 

Let  no  sad  tears  be  shed,  when  I  die,  over  me, 
But  bury  me  deep  in  the  sea, — in  the  sea. 

You  speak  like  a  boy, — like  a  boy,  who  thinks  the  old, 
gnarled  oak  can  be  twisted  as  easily  as  the  young 
sapling. 

Nicholas  Copernicus  was  instructed  in  that  seminary, 
where  it  is  always  happy  when  one  can  be  well  taught, — 
the  family  circle. 

In  1813,  Moore  entered  upon  his  noble,  poetical,  and 
patriotic  task, — writing  lyrics  for  the  ancient  music  of 
his  country. 

Kings  and  their  subjects,  masters  and  their  slaves, 
find  a  common  level  in  two  places, — at  the  foot  of  the 
cross,  and  in  the  grave. 

He  had  no  malice  in  his  mind — no  ruffles  on  his  shirt. 

Some  men  are  full  of  affection — affection  for  them- 
selves. 

Men  will  wrangle  for  religion,  write  for  it,  fight  for  it, 
anything  but — live  for  it. 

If  you  will  give  me  your  attention,  I  will  show  you 
— but  stop !  I  do  not  know  that  you  wish  to  see. 


218    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Thou  dost  not  mean — 

No,  no:  thou  wouldst  not  have  me  make 

A  trial  of  my  skill  upon  my  child ! 

She  fell  down  stairs  and  broke  her  neck — lace! 

"I  forgot  my —  "Your  portmanteau?"  hastily  inter- 
rupted Thomas.  "The  same." 

Then  they  rode  back,  but  not — 
Not  the  Six  Hundred. 

Wherefore  awake  them  into  life  again? 
Let  them  sleep  on  untroubled — it  is  best. 

To  pull  down  the  false  and  to  build  up  the  true,  and 
to  uphold  what  there  is  of  true  in  the  old, — let  this  be 
our  endeavor. 

The  collision  of  mind  with  mind ;  the  tug  and  strain  of 
intellectual  wrestling;  the  tension  of  every  mental  fibre, 
as  the  student  reaches  forth  to  take  hold  of  the  topmost 
pinnacle  of  thought, — these  make  men. 

"Sir  Smug,"  he  cries  (for  lowest  at  the  board, — 
Just  made  fifth  chaplain  of  his  patron  lord, 
His  shoulders  witnessing,  by  many  a  shrug, 
How  much  his  feelings  suffered — sat  Sir  Smug) , 
"Your  office  is  to  winnow  false  from  true : 
Come,  prophet,  drink;  and  tell  us  what  think  you." 

And  the  ear — that  gathers  into  its  hidden  chambers 
all  music  and  gladness — would  you  give  it  for  a  king- 
dom? 

The  noble  indignation  with  which  Emmett  repelled 
the  charge  of  treason  against  his  country;  the  eloquent 
vindication  of  his  name;  his  pathetic  appeal  to  posterity, 
in  the  hopeless  hour  of  condemnation, — all  these  entered 


PUNCTUATION  219 

deeply  into  every  generous  bosom,  and  even  his  enemies 
lamented  the  stern  policy  which  dictated  his  execution. 

There  comes  a  creeping  as  of  centipedes  running  down 
the  spine, — then  a  gasp  and  a  great  jump  of  the  heart, — 
then  a  sudden  flush  and  a  beating  in  the  vessels  of  the 
head, — then  a  long  sigh,  and  the  poem  is  written ! 

yet  the  wife — 

When  he  was  gone — the  children — what  to  do  ? 
Then  Enoch  lay  long-pondering  on  his  plans ; 
To  sell  the  boat — and  yet  he  loved  her  well — 
How  many  a  rough  sea  had  he  weather'd  in  her ! 
He  knew  her  (as  a  horseman  knows  his  horse) — 
And  yet  to  sell  her — then  with  what  she  brought 
Buy  goods  and  stores — set  Annie  forth  in  trade 
With  all  that  seamen  needed  or  their  wives — 
So  might  she  keep  the  house  while  he  was  gone. 
Should  he  not  trade  himself  out  yonder  ?  go 
This  voyage  more  than  once  ?  yea  twice  or  thrice — 
As  oft  as  needed — last,  returning  rich, 
Become  the  master  of  a  larger  craft, 
With  fuller  profits  lead  an  easier  life, 
Have  all  his  pretty  young  ones  educated, 
And  pass  his  days  in  peace  among  his  own. 

—TENNYSON:   Enoch  Arden. 

Do  you  get  any  difference  of  idea  between  the  fol- 
lowing sentences? 

The  tray  held  tea,  and  bread,  and  butter. 
The  tray  held  tea,  and  bread-and-butter. 

In  order  to  bring  out  the  difference  in  the  pictures 
read  aloud  the  two  sentences. 

Do   we  not   understand — at   any   rate   they   do   in 


220    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

England — that  bread  and  butter  are  two  ideas,  while 
bread-and-butter  is  but  one?  How  could  the  differ- 
ence better  be  expressed  than  by  the  hyphens  ? 

The  hyphen  is  often  used  to  group  words  in  order 
to  express  an  idea  for  which  there  appears  to  be  no 
one  single  word.  As  examples  we  have: 

A  give-and-take  battle. 

A  never-to-be-forgotten  meeting. 

A  newspaper  used  the  hyphen  in  a  recent  article 
very  effectively  when  it  printed: 

We  need  a  law  restricting  the  labor  of  mothers-of- 
young-children  employed  in  factories. 

This  may  be  newspaper  English,  and  the  writer 
might  have  said  "restricting  the  employment  in  fac- 
tories of  mothers  of  young  children."  But  that  isn't 
the  question  for  us  to  decide:  we  must  interpret  first 
for  ourselves  and  then  vocally  for  others  what  we  find 
on  the  page.  Besides  the  sentence  wouldn't  have  been 
awkward  if  it  hadn't  been  that  "children"  is  followed 
by  "employed." 

A  little  gnat  makes  a  buzzing  sound.  Keeping  that 
fact  in  mind,  study  carefully  the  following  passage 
from  Tennyson: 

The  tiny-trumpeting  gnat  can  break  our  dream 
When  sweetest. 

If  there  were  no  hyphen  after  "tiny"  what  would 
the  meaning  be?  Read  the  passage  as  it  stands,  and 
then  as  if  there  were  no  hyphen. 


PUNCTUATION  221 

Examine  the  marks  of  punctuation  at  the  close  of 
the  following  extract: 

Do  you  remember  who  it  was  that  wrote 

"Whatever  England's  fields  display, 
The  fairest  scenes  are  thine,  Torbay!"? 

You  observe  at  the  close  first  an  exclamation ;  then 
quotation  marks;  then  a  question  mark.  How  do  you 
interpret  these?  As  you  reread  the  sentence  you  see 
that  the  speaker  is  using  the  words  of  another  begin- 
ning "Whatever."  Then  we  note  the  exclamation 
after  "Torbay."  Now,  what  does  that  mean?  From 
our  study  of  the  exclamation  point  we  understand  at 
once  that  here  it  is  a  sign  of  emotion,  and  since  this 
appears  within  the  quotation  marks  we  conclude  that 
the  words  quoted  are  emotional.  That  leaves  the  ques- 
tion mark  to  indicate  that  the  person  speaking  is  ask- 
ing a  question  which  includes  the  quotation.  To  show 
how  much  the  vocal  expression  is  affected  even  in  such 
a  simple  illustration  as  the  one  we  are  discussing  let 
us  study  it  solely  from  this  viewpoint.  Disregard 
the  quotation  marks  and  the  question.  What  remains 
is  the  original  remark  of  admiration.  Read  it  to  ex- 
press the  author's  feeling: 

Whatever  England's  fields  display, 
The  fairest  scenes  are  thine,  Torbay ! 

But  without  any  knowledge  of  the  rest  of  the  para- 
graph from  which  the  three  lines  are  chosen,  it  seems 
that  the  person  asking  for  information  is  not  at  all 
moved  by  the  emotion  of  the  author.  With  only  such 
evidence  as  we  have  at  hand  concerning  the  feeling  of 


222    INTERPBETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

the  speaker,  would  it  not  appear  a  false  interpretation 
to  put  any  of  the  original  feeling  into  the  reading  of 
the  passage? 

Suppose  the  sentence  were: 

Who  wrote  that  abominable  rubbish, 

"Whatever  England's  fields  display, 
The  fairest  scenes  are  thine,  Torbay !" ! ! 

Here  surely  is  a  radically  different  meaning  from  that 
in  the  mind  of  the  first  speaker.  Inexperienced  readers 
often  take  for  granted  that  all  quotations  within 
quotations  are  to  be  read  as  they  would  be  in  the  text 
from  which  they  are  selected.  Let  me  illustrate.  A 
beggar  whines,  "Would  you  please  help  a  poor  starv- 
ing man?"  and  I  help  him,  and  find  out  later  he  was 
an  impostor.  I  am  highly  indignant  and  cry : 

That  miserable  vagabond  with  his  "would  you  please 
help  a  poor  starving  man?"  ought  to  go  to  jail. 

Cassius  says  to  Brutus,  speaking  of  Caesar : 

Ay,  and  that  tongue  of  his,  that  bade  the  Romans 
Mark  him  and  write  his  speeches  in  their  books, 
Alas,  it  cried,  "Give  me  some  drink,  Titinius," 
As  a  sick  girl. 

How  did  Caesar  speak  these  words?  Would  Cassius, 
carried  away  by  the  contempt,  anger,  excitement  of 
the  moment,  stop  (consciously  or  not,  it  makes  no 
difference)  literally  to  reproduce  the  tone  and  manner 
of  Caesar?  Read  it  as  you  think  it  should  be  done. 
In  Eugene  Field's  Little  Boy  Blue,  a  father  recalls 
the  picture  of  his  little  boy,  now  dead,  talking  to  his 


PUNCTUATION  223 

toys,  for  what  turned  out  to  be  the  last  time.  The 
father  then  adds — observe  the  quotation  marks : 

"Now  don't  you  go  till  1  come,"  he  said, 
"And  don't  you  make  any  noise." 
So  toddling  off  to  his  trundle-bed 
He  dreamt  of  the  pretty  toys. 

And  I  have  heard  elocutionists  with  so  little  sense  of 
interpretation  that  they  read  the  quoted  words  in 
literal  imitation  of  the  voice  and  manner  of  a  young 
child! 

The  following  excerpt  presents  a  similar  problem : 

What  is  the  use  of  asking  the  question,  "What  would 
he  have  done  in  different  circumstances?" ! 

Here  it  is  manifest  that  strong  assertion  is  the  dom- 
inant mood,  and  not  the  question.  There  is  no  asking 
for  information  but  a  distinct  note  of  anger  or  annoy- 
ance. 

"What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  is  a  question  in  form, 
but  its  speech  melody  is  that  of  assertion,  equivalent 
to  "Tell  me  what  I  must  do  to  be  saved."  Change  this 
to  the  form  of  our  illustration  and  we  have  a  true 
question  to  be  answered  by  yes  or  no : 

Can  you  tell  me  in  what  chapter  I  can  find  "What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved?" 

In  this  case  note  that  the  question  mark  at  the  end 
serves  both  for  the  quotation  and  the  entire  sentence. 
Read  the  following  sentences  aloud  and  bring 
out  the  meaning  of  each  as  indicated  by  the  quotation 
marks : 


224    INTEEPRETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Thereupon  the  mob  bursts  in  and  inquires,  "What  are 
you  doing  for  the  people?" 

Thereupon  the  mob  bursts  in  and  inquires  what  are 
you  doing  for  the  people. 

In  the  next  passage  we  see  at  a  glance  "jargon"  and 
"fustian"  are  the  words  of  the  person  spoken  of;  but 
if  "absurd"  were  not  quoted  there  would  be  consid- 
erable doubt  as  to  whether  the  present  speaker  agrees 
or  not  in  calling  these  things  "jargon"  and  "absurd." 

He  frequently  calls  them  "absurd,"  and  applies  to 
them  such  epithets  as  "jargon,"  "fustian,"  and  the  like. 

In  the  scene  where  Cassius  is  trying  to  induce  Brutus 
to  enter  the  conspiracy  against  Caesar  he  says : 

Brutus  and  Caesar:  what  should  be  in  that  Caesar? 
Why  should  that  name  be  sounded  more  than  yours? 
Write  them  together,  yours  is  as  fair  a  name ; 
Sound  them,  it  doth  become  the  mouth  as  well ; 
Weigh  them,  it  is  as  heavy;  conjure  with  'em. 
"Brutus"  will  start  a  spirit  as  soon  as  "Caesar." 
Now,  in  the  names  of  all  the  gods  at  once, 
Upon  what  meat  doth  this  our  Caesar  feed, 
That  he  is  grown  so  great? 

— Julius  Caesar,  I,  ii. 

If  we  were  to  print  the  names  of  Brutus  and  Caesar 
with  quotation  marks  it  would  be  clear  at  once  that 
Cassius  is  referring  to  the  names,  not  the  persons,  and 
the  vocal  expression  would  be  subtly  modified  by  the 
quotation  marks.  I  think  most  editions  of  Shake- 
speare do  not  use  the  quotation  marks,  but  I  believe 
the  meaning  would  be  more  surely  grasped,  certainly 
more  quickly,  if  they  were  used. 


PUNCTUATION  225 

Again,  in  the  line: 
"Brutus"  will  start  a  spirit  as  soon  as  "Caesar," 

it  would  seem  to  be  absolutely  necessary  to  print  the 
names  with  quotation  marks  (as  Rolfe  does) ;  for 
in  this  case  it  is  surely  not  intended  that  the  man 
Brutus  will  start  a  spirit  as  soon  as  Caesar;  it  is  the 
power  of  the  name  "Brutus"  that  is  contrasted  with 
the  name  "Caesar." 

An  example  even  more  illuminating  is  the  following 
from  the  play  of  Ulysses.  Ulysses,  the  hero  of  the 
drama,  passing  through  Hades  in  order  to  get  news 
of  his  wife,  is  stopped  by  one  of  the  ghosts  who,  in 
reply  to  Ulysses'  question,  says,  "She  lives."  But 
when  Ulysses  asks  whether  she  is  still  true  to  him,  the 
ghost  merely  repeats  "She  lives"  and  disappears. 
Then  Ulysses,  in  despair,  cries  out: 

"Lives"  and  no  more,  is  worse  to  me  than  "dead." 

This  passage  read  carelessly  is  flat  and  almost  with- 
out meaning,  but  the  quoted  words  interpreted  as  they 
should  be  are  full  of  passion  and  despair.  Para- 
phrased the  line  would  read,  "To  tell  me  that  she  lives 
and  to  say  no  more  than  that  is  worse  than  if  you 
had  spoken  the  word  the  very  opposite  of  "lives"- 
the  word,  "dead." 

Sometimes  one  may  quote  a  speaker  who  is  quoting 
some  other  speaker,  or  a  passage  from  literature.  The 
following  is  an  example.  To  express  the  meaning 
vocally  is  a  nice  problem  for  the  render. 


226    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

"Let  me  quote  from  Rossetti's  Life  of  Keats,"  he  said. 
"Mr.  Rossetti  writes  as  follows: 

'  'To  one  of  these  phrases  a  few  words  of  comment 
may  be  given.  That  axiom  which  concludes  the  "Ode  on 
a  Grecian  Urn" — 

'  "Beauty  is  truth,  truth  beauty, — that  is  all 

Ye  know  on  earth,  and  all  ye  need  to  know," 
is  perhaps  the  most  important  contribution  to  thought 
which  the  poetry  of  Keats  contains:    it  pairs  with  and 
transcends 

'  "A  thing  of  beauty  is  a  joy  forever."  ' 
"And  now  I  shall  conclude  my  first  point,"  he  con- 
tinued, "by  remarking  that  .  .   ." 

(Be  certain  that  you  understand  just  why  the 
writer  of  that  passage  used  each  one  of  the  quotation 
marks.  Then,  reading  aloud,  make  another  under- 
stand as  clearly  as  you  do,  yourself.) 


CHAPTER  XIII 

REVIEW  EXERCISES  IN  PUNCTUATION 

Every  selection  in  this  chapter  illustrates  one  or 
more  phases  of  the  problem  of  the  interpretation  of 
punctuation.  They  are  rich  in  suggestion  and  will 
amply  repay  carefullest  study.  Every  extract  should 
be  read  aloud. 

The  importance  of  correctly  interpreting  the  punc- 
tuation marks  warrants  us  in  studying  a  great  many 
passages,  but  your  interest  is  more  likely  to  grow  than 
to  wane  as  you  find  in  each  illustration  a  vital,  grip- 
ping problem  that  taxes  your  powers  of  logic  and 
interpretation.  For  you  see  that  the  punctuation 
affects  Grouping,  Sequence,  Motive,  Central  Idea — 
all  the  elements  entering  into  the  study  of  the  printed 
page. 

I  tell  thee  now, — and  I  shall  keep  my  word. — 
If  e'er  again  I  find  thee  railing  on, 
As  now  thou  dost,  then  let  Ulysses  wear 
His  head  no  longer,  let  me  not  be  called 
The  father  of  Telemachus,  if  I 
Shall  fail  to  seize  thee,  and  to  strip  thee  bare 
Of  cloak  and  tunic,  and  whatever  else 
Covers  thy  carcass,  and  to  send  thee  forth. 
Howling,  to  air  swift  barks  upon  the  shore, 
Scourged  from  the  council  with  a  storm  of  blows. 
— Iliad  (Bryant's  translation). 

227 


228    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

(The  first  time  you  read  this  speech  of  Ulysses  you 
are  likety  to  interpret  it  as  meaning  that  if  ever  again 
he  hears  the  person  railing  he,  Ulysses,  will  wear  his 
head  no  longer.  Study  the  commas  carefully,  and 
you  will  see  that  the  entire  speech  beginning  with  the 
second  line,  points  forward  continually  to  the  end.) 

Why,  don't  you  understand  what  war  is? 

(The  above  is  the  opening  line  of  a  poem  recently 
published.  Note  what  a  difference  in  the  vocal  ex- 
pression the  absence  of  the  comma  would  make.) 

Death  is  here,  and  death  is  there, 
Death  is  busy  everywhere. 
All  around,  within,  beneath, 
Above,  is  death ;  and  we  are  death. 

— SHELLEY. 

Cassio.    Dost  thou  hear,  my  honest  friend? 
Clown.     No,  I  hear  not  your  honest  friend.     I  hear 
you.  — Othello,  III,  ii. 

A  woman  will,  or  won't,  depend  on  't. 

And  more  nearly,  dying  thus,  resemble  thee. 

I  have  another  engagement,  in  Detroit,  the  same  day. 

When  will  you  marry,  John  ? 

Go,  for  they  call  you,  shepherd,  from  the  hill. 

We  are  not  what  we  think  we  are ; 
But  what  we  think,  we  are. 

The  turkey  strutted  about  the  yard;  two  hours  after, 
his  head  was  cut  off. 


EEVIEW  EXERCISES  IN  PUNCTUATION         229 

And  with  him  many  of  thy  people,  and  knight* 
Once  thine,  whom  thou  hast  loved,  but  grosser  grown 
Than  heathen,  spitting  at  their  vows  and  thee. 

(It  is  Sir  Bedivere  who  is  telling  Arthur  that  it  is 
Modred  who  leads  the  revolt  against  him,  and  that 
many  of  his  former  knights  have  joined  the  revolt. 
Parse  "spitting.") 

Then  answer'd  Mary,  "This  shall  never  be, 
That  thou  shouldst  take  my  trouble  on  thyself: 
And,  now  I  think,  he  shall  not  have  the  boy, 
For  he  will  teach  him  hardness,  and  to  slight 
His  mother. 

—TENNYSON  :    Dora. 

(Mary  is  the  wife  of  William,  who  has  married  her 
against  his  father's  wishes.  After  William  dies  Dora 
tries  to  reconcile  William's  father  and  Mary.  But  the 
father  is  angry,  telling  Dora  that  he  will  take  the 
young  child  and  bring  him  up  but  that  he  never  wants 
to  see  Dora's  face  again.  It  is  after  Dora  returns  to 
Mary,  having  left  the  child  with  its  grandfather,  that 
Mary  uses  the  words  printed  above.  The  interesting 
part  of  the  extract  is  in  the  third  line.) 

Desdemona.  Do  not  doubt,  Cassio, 

But  I  will  have  my  lord  and  you  again 
As  friendly  as  you  were. 

—Othello,  III,  iii. 

What  do  you  think !  I  will  shave  you  for  nothing  and 
give  you  a  drink. 

What !  do  you  think  I  will  shave  you  for  nothing  and 
give  you  a  drink  ? 


230    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

(The  first  of  the  two  preceding  lines  was  painted  on 
a  sign  outside  a  barber  shop.  But  after  customers 
had  been  shaved  they  were  apologetically  told  that  the 
sign  in  front  had  been  wrongly  punctuated;  that  it 
should  have  read  as  it  is  printed  in  the  second 
sentence. ) 

You  stole  the  money,  and  you  have  woven  a  plot  to 
lay  the  sin  at  my  door.  But  you  may  prosper,  for  all 
that:  there  is  no  just  God,  that  governs  the  earth 
righteously,  but  a  God  of  lies,  that  bears  witness  against 
the  innocent. — ELIOT:  Silas  Marner. 

(George  Eliot  knew  how  to  punctuate  and  you  must 
not  destroy  her  meaning  by  overlooking  certain  sig- 
nificant commas  in  the  sentence  you  have  just  been 
reading.) 

For  we  are  all,  like  swimmers  in  the  sea, 
Poised  on  the  top  of  a  huge  wave  of  fate, 
Which  hangs  uncertain  to  which  side  to  fall. 

— ARNOLD:   Sohrab  and  Rustum. 

(Are  we  all  like  swimmers  in  the  sea?) 

But  when  the  next  sun  brake  from  underground. 
Then,  these  two  brethren  slowly  with  bent  brows 
Accompanying,  the  sad  chariot-bier 
Past  like  a  shadow  thro'  the  field,  that  shone 
Full-summer,  to  that  stream  whereon  the  barge, 
Pall'd  all  its  length  in  blackest  samite,  lay. 
There  sat  the  lifelong  creature  of  the  house, 
Loyal,  the  dumb  old  servitor,  on  deck, 
Winking  his  eyes,  and  twisted  all  his  face. 

— TENNYSON:   Lancelot  and  Elaine. 


REVIEW  EXERCISES  IN  PUNCTUATION        231 

(There  are  several  catches  in  the  above  extract.  It 
is  a  splendid  warning  against  hasty  reading.  Note 
commas  after  "then,"  "accompanying,"  "field," 
"samite."  Parse  "twisted.") 

Robert  of  Sicily,  brother  of  Pope  Urbane 

And  Valmond,  Emperor  of  Allemaine, 

Appareled  in  magnificent  attire, 

With  retinue  of  many  a  knight  and  squire, 

On  St.  John's  eve,  at  vespers,  proudly  sat 

And  heard  the  priests  chant  the  "magnificat." 

And  as  he  listened,  o'er  and  o'er  again 

Repeated,  like  a  burden  or  refrain, 

He  caught  the  words,  "Deposuit  potentes 

De  sede  et  exaltavit  humiles"; 

And  slowly  lifting  up  his  kingly  head 

He  to  a  learned  clerk  beside  him  said, 

"What  means  those  words?"    The  clerk  made 

answer  meet, 

"He  has  put  down  the  mighty  from  their  seat, 
And  has  exalted  them  of  low  degree." 

— LONGFELLOW:  King  Robert  of  Sicily. 

(In  the  first  two  lines  you  find  the  difficult  problem. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  get  the  meaning  the  first 
time;  but  the  commas  will  help  you.  The  commas 
after  "listen,"  and  "repeated" need  careful  attention.) 

When  shall  we  three  meet  again 
In  thunder,  lightning,  or  in  rain  ? 

—Macbeth,  I,  i. 

(I  have  heard  many,  many  actresses  and  occasion- 
ally a  student  read  the  above  speech  of  the  first 
witch  as  if  it  were  printed: 


232    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

When  shall  we  three  meet  again  ? 
In  thunder,  lightning,  or  in  rain? 

Prove  that  such  an  interpretation  is  nonsense.) 

Whirling  and  boiling  and  roaring  like  thunder,  the 
stream  came  down  upon  them. 

England,  or  the  nation  of  shopkeepers,  would  never 
be  asked  to  join  such  an  alliance. 

England  or  France  might  be  asked  to  join  the  alliance. 

Ross.  Ah,  good  father, 

Thou  seest,  the  heavens,  as  troubled  with  man's  act, 
Threaten  his  bloody  stage. 

While  you  are  revelling  in  the  delights  (?)  of  the 
London  season,  I  am  leading  a  hermit  life,  with  no 
companions  save  my  books. 

On  this  shelf  you  will  put  books  and  pamphlets  pub- 
lished in  the  present  year. 

On  this  shelf  you  will  put  books,  and  pamphlets  pub- 
lished in  the  present  year. 

Histories  make  men  wise;  poets,  witty;  the  mathe- 
matics, subtle;  natural  philosophy,  deep;  moral,  grave; 
logic  and  rhetoric,  able  to  contend. — BACON. 

Men  will  wrangle  for  religion;  write  for  it;  fight  for 
it;  die  for  it;  anything  but — live  for  it. 

"Shall  I  bend  low  and  in  a  bondman's  key. 
With  bated  breath  and  whispering  humbleness, 
Say  this: 

'Fair  sir,  you  spit  on  me  on  Wednesday  last ; 
You  spurn'd  me  such  a  day ;  another  time 
You  call'd  me  dog;  and  for  these  courtesies 
I'll  lend  you  thus  much  moneys'  "? 

— The  Merchant  of  Venice,  I,  iii. 


REVIEW  EXERCISES  IN  PUNCTUATION         233 

Lo!   in  the  middle  of  the  wood, 
The  folded  leaf  is  woo'd  from  out  the  bud 
With  winds  upon  the  branch,  and  there- 
Grows  green  and  broad,  and  takes  no  care, 
Sun-steep'd  at  noon,  and  in  the  moon 
Nightly  dew-fed;    and  turning  yellow 
Falls,  and  floats  adown  the  air. 

—TENNYSON:  The  Loto*  Katert. 

Then,  stand  there  and  hear 

The  bird's  quiet  singing,  that  tells  us 

What  life  is,  so  clear. 

Why  strikes  he  not,  the  foremost  one, 
Where  murder's  sternest  deeds  are  done? 

And  he  call'd  "Left  wheel  into  line !"  and  they  wheel'd 
and  obey'd. 

—TENNYSON  :  The  Heavy  Brigade. 

Salute  all  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you,  and  all 
the  Saints. — THE  BIBLE. 

But  be  ye  doers  of  the  word,  and  not  hearers  only, 
deluding  your  own  selves. — THE  BIBLE. 

A  husband  and  father  has  done  something  that  his 
wife  and  daughter  do  not  like,  and  the  mother  defend- 
ing him  says : 

He  can't  help  it,  because  he  doesn't  look  at  things 
just  the  way  we  do. 

(Is  the  comma  used  correctly?  Look  closely.  Does 
the  mother  mean,  "It  isn't  his  fault  if  he  doesn't  look 
at  things  just  the  way  we  do";  or  does  she  mean, 
"He  simply  cannot  help  it;  and  the  reason  is  that  he 
doesn't  look  at  things  just  the  way  we  do"?  In  other 


034    1NTEBPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

words,  the  comma  seems  to  tell  us  that  the  second  in- 
terpretation is  correct,  and  that  "it"  refers  to  the  act 
which  the  mother  and  daughter  did  not  like.  But  I 
incline  to  believe  that,  in  the  light  of  the  rest  of  the 
story,  the  author  didn't  mean  that,  and  that  the  comma 
crept  in  through  an  oversight.  A  very  small  matter, 
to  be  sure,  but  how  much  difference  the  comma  makes 
in  the  reading  aloud!) 

A  dark,  blue  sediment  was  in  the  bottle. 
A  dark  blue  bottle  contained  the  sediment. 

She  wore  a  bright,  red  dress. 
She  wore  a  bright  red  dress. 

He  took  it,  looked  at  it,  and  opened  it. 
He  took  it,  looked  at  it  and  opened  it. 

He  received  congratulatory  letters  from  Clark,  Under- 
wood, Bryan  and  Tillman  of  South  Carolina. 

(Comment  on  the  last  group.) 

Only  a  few  minutes  after  the  smoke  cleared  away  and 
I  saw  the  mountain  in  the  distance. 

(Punctuate  and  then  read.) 

I  watched  while  he  searched  the  room. 
I  watched,  while  he  searched  the  room. 

(Two  radically  different  meanings.     Explain.     Read 
aloud.) 

He  left  the  room  leisurely. 
He  left  the  room,  leisurely. 

United,  we  stand;  divided,  we  fall. 


REVIEW  EXERCISES  IN  PUNCTUATION         235 

The  prince,  his  father  being  dead,  succeeded. 

For  the  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal,  but  thr 
things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal. 

His  stories,  which  made  everybody  laugh,  were  often 
made  to  order. 

They    passed    the    cup    to    the    stranger,    who    drank 
heartily. 

Hail  to  ye  heralds,  of  Zeus  and  of  men  the  messengers 

sacred ! 
Forward,  and  fear  not!   not  you  I  blame,  but  your  king, 

Agamemnon. 

They  are  reliable,   painstaking,  men  we  can  depend 
upon. 

All  things  that  are,  are  with  more  spirit  chased  than 
enjoyed. 

Whatever  is,  is  right. 

Punish,  guide,  instruct  the  boy. 

The  vain  are  easily  obliged,  and  easily  disobliged. 

Strong  proofs,  not  a  loud  voice,  produce  conviction. 

Though  black,  yet  comely;  and  though  rash,  benign. 

Learning  is  the  ally,  not  the  adversary,  of  genius. 

Though  deep,  yet  clear;  though  gentle,  yet  not  dull ; 
Strong,  without  rage;  without  o'erflowing,  full. 

Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  I  give  my 
hand  and  my  heart  to  this  vote. 

The  Venetian  Senate  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the 
Emperor,  Charles  V.,  and  the  Pope,  Paul  III. 

William  was  slain,  leaving  one  child,  Alice. 


036    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Patience,  I  say ;  your  mind  perhaps  may  change. 

Under  certain  conditions  commas  would  be  adequate 
marks  of  separation  in  the  sentence;  under  other  con- 
ditions, the  semicolon;  why  semicolons  and  dashes? 

The  highest  rank; — a  splendid  fortune; — and  a  name, 
glorious  till  it  was  yours, — were  sufficient  to  have  sup- 
ported you  with  meaner  abilities  than  I  think  you 
possess. 

The  highest  rank,  a  splendid  fortune,  and  a  name, 
glorious  till  it  was  yours,  were  sufficient  to  have  sup- 
ported you  with  meaner  abilities  than  I  think  you 
possess. 

The  highest  rank;  a  splendid  fortune;  and  a  name 
glorious  till  it  was  yours,  were  sufficient  to  have  sup- 
ported you  with  meaner  abilities  than  I  think  you 
possess. 

.   .  .  lowliness  is  young  ambition's  ladder, 
Whereto  the  climber-upward  turns  his  face. 

— Julius  Caesar. 

(What  difference  would  it  make  if  the  hyphen  were 
omitted  in  the  above  sentence?) 

Well — I  don't  know — that  is — no,  I  cannot  accept  it. 

What  does  this  honorable  person  mean  by  "a  tempest 
that  outrides  the  wind"? 

Hast  thou  never  cried,  "What  must  I  do  to  be  saved"? 
But  I  boldly  cried  out,  "Woe  unto  this  city !" 

Alas,  how  few  of  them  can  say,  "I  have  striven  to  the 
very  utmost" ! 

How  fearful  was  the  cry:  "Help,  or  we  perish" ! 


REVIEW  EXERCISES  IN  PUNCTUATION         237 

The  I-believe-of-Eastern  derivation  monosyllabic 
"Bosh." 

Peace-at-any-rate  principles. 
The  one-day  seen  Sir  Launcelot. 
These  nine-year- fought- for-diamonds. 

A  fellow  in  a  market-town, 

Most  musical,  cried  "Razors!"  up  and  down, 

And  offered  twelve  for  eighteen  pence ; 
Which  certainly  seemed  wondrous  cheap, 
And  for  the  money  quite  a  heap, 

As  every  man  would  buy,  with  cash  and  sense. 

"It  isn't  that,"  said  Scrooge,  heated  by  the  remark 
and  speaking  unconsciously  like  his  former,  not  his 
latter,  self:  "It  isn't  that,  Spirit." 

Little  need  to  speak 

Of  Lancelot  in  his  glory !      King,  duke,  earl. 
Count,  baron — whom  he  smote  he  overthrew. 

• — TENNYSON:   The  Passing  of  Arthur. 

The  bugle  sounded;  cavalry  charged,  sabers  clashed, 
cannon  roared  ;  the  battle  was  on  ! 

The  bugle  sounded,  cavalry  charged,  sabers  clashed, 
cannon  roared,  the  battle  was  on. 

The  bugle  sounded ;  cavalry  charged ;  sabers  clashed ; 
cannon  roared ;  the  battle  was  on  ! 

The  Duke  of  Portland  warmly  approved  of  the  work, 
but  justly  remarked  that  the  king  was  not  "so  absolute  a 
thing  of  straw"  as  he  was  represented  in  it. 

"What  have  you  done?"  said  one  of  Bal four's  brother 
officers.  "My  duty,"  said  Bal  four  firmly.  "Is  it  not 
written,  'Thou  shall  be  zealous  even  to  slaying'? 


238    INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Before  long,  Beckey  received  not  only  "the  best"  for- 
eigners (as  the  phrase  is  in  our  noble  and  admirable 
society  slang),  but  some  of  "the  best"  English  people 
too. 

And  the  merchants  of  the  earth  weep  and  mourn  over 
her  [Babylon],  for  no  man  buyeth  their  merchandise 
any  more ;  merchandise  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious 
stone,  and  pearls,  and  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and  silk. 
and  scarlet;  and  all  thyine  wood,  and  every  vessel  of 
ivory,  and  every  vessel  made  of  most  precious  wood,  and 
of  brass,  and  iron,  and  marble ;  and  cinnamon,  and  spice, 
and  incense,  and  ointment,  and  frankincense,  and  wine, 
and  oil,  and  fine  flour,  and  wheat,  and  cattle,  and  sheep ; 
and  merchandise  of  horses  and  chariots  and  slaves ;  and 
souls  of  men. — Revelation,  XVIII,  11,  12,  13. 

And  I  saw  an  angel  standing  in  the  sun;  and  he  cried 
with  a  loud  voice,  saying  to  all  the  birds  that  fly  in  mid 
heaven,  Come  and  be  gathered  together  unto  the  great 
supper  of  God;  that  ye  may  eat  the  flesh  of  kings,  and 
the  flesh  of  captains,  and  the  flesh  of  mighty  men,  and 
the  flesh  of  horses  and  of  them  that  sit  thereon,  and  the 
flesh  of  all  men,  both  free  and  bond,  and  small  and 
great.— Ibid.,  XIX,  17,  18. 

And  he  gave  some,  apostles ;  and  some,  prophets ;  and 
some,  evangelists ;  and  some,  pastors  and  teachers. 

A  Scotch  mist  became  a  shower ;  and  a  shower,  a  flood ; 
and  a  flood,  a  storm ;  and  a  storm,  a  tempest,  thunder, 
and  lightning;  and  thunder  and  lighting,  heaven-quake 
and  earth-quake. 

Hector,  and  ye  who  lead  the  troops  of  Troy 
And  our  auxiliars !  rashly  do  we  seek 
To  urge  our  rapid  steeds  across  the  trench 
So  hard  to  pass,  beset  with  pointed  stakes, — 


REVIEW  EXERCISES  IN  PUNCTUATION         239 

And  the  Greek  wall  so  near.     The  troops  of  horsr 
Cannot  descend  nor  combat  there :  the  space 
Is  narrow:  they  would  all  be  slain. 

— Iliad  (Bryant's  translation). 

We  know  what  master  laid  thy  keel, 
What  workman  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 
Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope, 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 
In  what  a  forge,  and  what  a  heat, 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope ! 

— LONGFELLOW:  Ship  of  State. 

Neither  blindness,  nor  gout,  nor  age,  nor  penury,  nor 
domestic  afflictions,  nor  political  disappointments,  nor 
abuse,  nor  proscription,  nor  neglect,  had  power  to  dis- 
turb his  sedate  and  majestic  patience. — MACAULAY: 
Essay  on  Milton. 

The  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  the  seas,  the  hills,  and  the 

plains, — 

Are  not  these,  O  Soul,  the  Vision  of  Him  who  reigns? 

—TENNYSON. 

Days,  months,  years,  and  ages,  shall  circle  away, 
And  still  the  vast  waters  above  thee  shall  roll. 

— DIAMOND:   The  Sailor  Boy's  Dream. 

I  know  not,  my  daughter. 

The  old  man  smiled,  and,  for  a  few  moments,  sat 
buried  in  thought.  He  then  said  to  them:  "I,  too,  have 
lived  to  see  all  the  hopes  of  my  youth  turn  into  shadows, 
clouds,  and  darkness,  and  vanish  into  nothing." 

"Under  the  porch  away  down  low," 

The  cricket  chirruped  in  rare  delight, 

"Is  the  place,  I  know 

For  us  all  to  go; 

There's  not  the  tiniest  rav  of  1i?rht !" 


240    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

It  has  not  been  my  purpose  to  teach  you  how  to 
punctuate  nor  to  ask  you  to  give  reasons  for  every 
punctuation  point  you  find  on  the  printed  page.  Only 
such  uses  of  punctuation  are  discussed  as  are  likely 
to  be  misunderstood  or  ignored  by  the  student,  with 
the  result  that  he  incorrectly  interprets  both  for  him- 
self and  when  he  reads  aloud  for  others. 

Unfortunately  authors  and  publishers  are  not  a 
unit  in  their  use  of  punctuation ;  but  this  much  is  sure : 
in  standard  editions  of  works  of  the  great  authors 
past  and  present  there  are  well-defined  principles  of 
punctuation.  There  may  be  differences  in  details 
among  authors ;  but  if  our  study  has  not  been  in  vain 
the  student  will  have  become  keen  enough  by  this  time- 
to  understand  that  fundamentally  there  is  agreement 
among  them.  Moreover  we  have  learned  to  pay  par- 
ticular attention  to  the  punctuation,  first,  because  it 
helps  us  to  get  the  meaning,  and  secondly,  because 
I  hat  meaning  will  vitally  affect  the  vocal  expression. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

CONNOTATION 

In  the  study  of  the  mark  of  exclamation  your  atten- 
tion was  called  to  two  significant  passages,  which  I 
repeat : 

He  must  not  suspect ! 
and 

But  she  is  in  her  grave,  and,  oh, 
The  difference  to  me ! 

What  do  they  denote?  Briefly,  the  first  says  that  a 
certain  woman  did  a  certain  thing  that  she  might  pre- 
vent a  certain  man  from  suspecting  what  she  was 
planning  to  do  to  save  his  life.  The  second  says 
that  someone  is  in  her  grave  and  I  exclaim  that  this 
fact  makes  quite  a  difference  to  me.  Another  exam- 
ple :  "Twice  two  are  four ;  twice  three  are  six ;  twice 
four  are  eight."  Imagine  these  are  the  words  of  a 
father  to  a  son  who  has  been  extravagant  as  though 
there  were  no  end  to  money,  and  the  father  says,  "My 
son,  you  can't  go  on  like  this,  spending  money  with 
no  thought  of  the  future:  remember,  'twice  two  art- 
four;  twice  three  are  six;  twice  four  are  eight'!'  Is 
there  any  thought  or  suggestiveness  in  those  words 
now  that  was  not  there  before  ? 

241 


242    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Recall  the  passage  from  Enoch  Arden  ending  with : 
A  shipwreck'd  sailor  waiting  for  a  sail! 

And  again:  Shylock  is  asked  whether,  in  case  An- 
tonio fails  to  pay  him  the  three  thousand  ducats,  he 
will  insist  on  a  pound  of  Antonio's  flesh ;  and  further, 
he  is  asked  what  is  the  good  of  a  pound  of  flesh, 
whereupon  he  snaps  back : 

To  bait  fish  withal;  and  if  it  will  feed  nothing  else, 
it  will  feed  my  revenge. 

Do  Shylock's  first  words  mean  merely  that  Antonio's 
flesh  will  prove  very  good  bait  for  fishing? 

In  the  play,  The  Blue  Bird,  are  two  children  so  poor 
that  they  have  cakes  but  twice  a  year.  When  they 
are  asked  whether  they  ever  have  cakes,  one  answers : 

Oh,  yes,  on  New  Year's  and  the  fourteenth  of  July. 

Nearly  everyone  who  hears  or  reads  that  answer 
laughs  at  "the  fourteenth  of  July,"  thinking  it  to 
be  a  slip  on  the  little  boy's  part  intended  for  "the 
fourth  of  July."  But  the  laugh  springs  from  our 
ignorance  that  this  play  is  laid  in  France,  and  that  to 
Frenchmen  "the  fourteenth  of  July"  has  exactly  the 
same  meaning  as  "the  fourth  of  July"  has  for  Amer- 
icans,— it  is  France's  Independence  Day.  So  you  see 
the  passage  isn't  funny,  and  the  laugh  is  on  us  for 
laughing  at  it. 

There  is  no  single  sentence  in  all  the  parables  more 
exquisitely  beautiful  and  touching  than : 

But  while  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw 
him,  and  had  compassion,  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his  neck, 
and  kissed  him. 


CONNOTATION  243 

Could  anything  be  simpler  in  its  denotation?  The 
most  hurried  reading  will  give  us  the  bald  facts,  but 
where  in  all  literature  is  there  a  more  noble  and  uplift- 
ing connotation  than  in  the  words:  "But  while  he 
was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw  him"?  A 
great  way  off, — a  great  way  off,  the  father  saw  him. 
To  paraphrase  that  is  to  destroy  its  beauty.  Say  it 
again,  over  and  over,  while  its  marvelous  connotation 
possesses  you  entirely.  "And  ran" — that  in  two  words 
is  all  a  father's  heart:  "and  ran,"  "and  fell  on  his 
neck,  and  kissed  him." 

And  lastly:  there  is  not  much  to  love  in  the  char- 
acter of  Shylock;  but  Shakespeare's  art  in  softening 
his  character  is  wonderfully  manifested  in  one  brief 
passage,  the  full  significance  of  which  few  people  see. 
They  not  only  fail  to  get  Shakespeare's  purpose; 
they  get  a  meaning  the  very  reverse  of  what  he  in- 
tended. They  are  moved  through  their  ignorance  to 
hearty  laughter  where  the  poet's  evident  intention  is 
to  arouse,  for  a  moment  at  least,  a  touch  of  pity  for 
old  Shylock. 

Jessica,  Shylock's  only  child,  has  eloped,  taking 
with  her  much  money  and  many  "precious,  precious" 
jewels  belonging  to  her  father.  Tubal,  Shylock's 
friend,  goes  to  Genoa  in  search  of  her,  but  cannot  find 
her.  All  he  learns  is  that  she  is  spending  Shylock's 
money  recklessly:  in  one  night  she  throws  away 
"four-score  ducats,"  and  Shylock  bemoans  his  loss 
with : 

Thou  stick'st  a  dagger  in  me.  I  shall  never  see  my 
gold  again. 


244    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Tubal  continues,  after  telling  of  his  meeting  with 
some  of  Antonio's  creditors : 

One  of  them  showed  me  a  ring  that  he  had  of  your 
daughter  for  a  monkey. 

ShylocTc.  Out  upon  her!  Thou  torturest  me,  Tubal: 
it  was  my  turquoise;  I  had  it  of  Leah,  when  I  was  a 
bachelor.  I  would  not  have  given  it  for  a  wilderness 
of  monkeys. 

Again  the  audience  bursts  into  laughter,  no  doubt 
admiring  the  mighty  poet  for  his  cleverness.  And  yet 
here  is  a  passage  of  tenderest  feeling.  Shylock,  the 
money  lender,  the  miser,  he  who  screams  and  howls 
when  he  hears  that  Jessica  spent  in  one  night  four- 
score ducats,  is  still  a  lover  carrying  in  his  heart  the 
enshrined  image  of  his  beloved  wife.  One  glimpse  of 
what  was  best  in  him  is  permitted  to  us,  and  we, 
through  sheer  ignorance,  miss  it  entirely.  "Monkey" 
in  Shakespeare's  day  represented  a  good  sized  sum  of 
money — many,  many  ducats.  The  turquoise  was  a 
much  more  precious  stone  in  Shakespeare's  time  than 
it  is  now,  but  even  so  the  ring  could  scarcely  have 
been  worth  beyond  the  sum  Jessica  sold  it  for.  Again, 
Shylock  has  just  told  Tubal  that  among  the  jewels 
stolen  by  Jessica  was  a  diamond  worth  alone  two  thou- 
sand ducats.  Now  let  us  bring  all  these  facts  to- 
gether. Here  is  a  diamond  gone  that  cost  two  thou- 
sand ducats;  here  is  the  news  of  Jessica's  spending 
fourscore  ducats  at  one  sitting,  and  these  losses  are 
daggers  stuck  into  Shylock's  heart.  But  when  he 
hears  that  his  turquoise  is  gone  all  sense  of  money 


<, 'ON  NOTATION  24f» 

value  leaves  him.  This  little  turquoise  ring  brings 
back  his  early  love,  his  beloved  Leah,  and  perhaps  the 
days  when  Christian  persecution  had  not  poisoned  his 
soul.  His  heart  softens  at  the  tender  memory  and 
vents  its  agony  in  the  piteous  cry :  "Oh,  Tubal ! 
Tubal !  thou  breakest  my  heart !  My  ring !  my  Leah's 
ring!  For  a  monkey?  a  monkey?  Oh,  I  would  not 
have  parted  with  it  for  a  wilderness  of  monkeys !"  A 
pun,  to  be  sure,  but  a  grim,  ghastly  joke,  springing 
from  an  aching  heart.  All  that  was  best  and  highest 
and  noblest  and  most  human  in  poor  Shylock  finds 
expression  in  thos?  four  words.  Hate,  despair,  money- 
lust,  revenge,  are  gone;  and,  in  their  stead,  only  the 
memory  of  his  early  love,  his  Leah. 

Long  before  this  you  doubtless  have  discovered  why 
we  have  been  spending  so  much  time  on  passages 
many  of  which  were  studied  in  previous  chapters.  The 
purpose  was  to  demonstrate  that  words  have  two 
aspects :  to  define  and  to  suggest ;  and  that  of  the  two 
the  latter  is  in  literature  by  far  the  more  significant. 

I  am  under  great  obligation  to  Professor  Barrett 
Wendell  for  his  treatment  of  Denotation  and  Conno- 
tation. I  can  therefore  do  no  better  than  let  him 
speak  directly  to  you.  I  quote  from  his  English  Cam- 
position.  I  am  taking  a  few,  a  very  few,  liberties 
with  the  original  text : 

Every  word  [every  group  of  words  in  the  sense  in 
which  "group"  is  used  throughout  this  book]  names 
something  in  such  a  way  as  to  identify  it;  [and  further] 
it  suggests  along  with  it  a  very  subtle  and  variable  set 
of  associated  ideas  and  emotions. 


246    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Denotation  and  Connotation  go  hand  in  hand.  We 
do  not  in  our  reading  make  any  effort  to  keep  them 
apart,  but  that  they  can  be  discussed  separately  Pro- 
fessor Wendell  clearly  demonstrates.  We  must  know 
what  a  word  denotes  or  its  connotation  is  lost  upon  us, 
and  not  to  be  affected  by  the  connotative  aspect  of 
literature  is  to  miss  literature  itself.  A  simple  thing 
is  Connotation,  but  it  includes  everything  in  life.  It 
is  the  associations  of  the  home,  the  class,  business,  our 
sports  and  pastimes,  that  make  them  pleasant  or  un- 
pleasant, and  it  is  association  that  determines  whether 
literature  shall  or  shall  not  appeal  to  us. 

Why  do  public  speakers  ring  all  the  changes  on 
"our  beloved  country,"  "the  flag,"  "the  Stars  and 
Stripes,"  "George  Washington,"  and  "Abraham 
Lincoln"?  Because  they  are  magic  words  stirring  us 
through  their  suggestiveness,  their  connotation,  often- 
times to  reckless,  uncontrolled  enthusiasm. 

Of  course,  the  connotation  of  a  word  is  different 
for  different  people,  and  even  for  the  same  individual 
at  different  times;  but  the  greatest  artists  are  those 
whose  genius  leads  them  to  select  those  words  that 
arouse  in  the  largest  number  of  their  readers  the  asso- 
ciated thoughts  and  emotions  which  "cluster"  about  a 
given  idea. 

Think  for  a  moment  over  some  of  the  examples  in 
the  preceding  pages  of  this  chapter:  "the  fourteenth 
of  July,"  "my  turquoise,"  and  "ran."  Is  it  not  mar- 
velous, the  power  of  these  commonplace  words ! 

But  in  order  that  we  may  get  the  fullest  connota- 
tion out  of  any  passage,  we  must,  granted  we  have  the 


CONNOTATION  247 

denotation,  go  slowly,  dwelling,  lingering  on  a  word 
or  on  a  line— lazing  over  it,  as  it  were.  Wordsworth, 
in  The  Daffodils,  says,  after  describing  a  field  of 
daffodils: 

I  gazed-    and  gazed — but  little  thought 
What  wealth  the  show  to  me  had  brought: 
For  oft,  when  on  my  couch  I  lie 

In  vacant  or  in  pensive  mood, 
They  flash  upon  that  inward  eye 

Which  is  the  bliss  of  solitude, 
And  then  my  heart  with  pleasure  fills. 
And  dances  with  the  daffodils. 

"I  gazed — and  gazed."  (How  much  connotation 
in  the  dashes;  commas  would  have  expressed  the  ban- 
fact!)  That's  just  what  we  won't  do:  we  won't  gaze 
long  enough  to  permit  the  picture,  the  idea,  to  possess 
us  wholly.  True,  sometimes  our  whole  being  is 
stirred  instantly  by  some  word,  some  reference:  the 
connotation  is  present  almost  as  soon  as  the  denota- 
tion ;  but  the  fullest  connotation  cannot  be  realized  by 
the  hurried,  careless  reader.  "The  wealth"  comes 
only  to  those  who  "gaze — and  gaze." 

Hurry,  hurry,  is  the  greatest  enemy  of  literary 
appreciation  and  enjoyment.  Only  things  of  little 
worth  can  be  got  in  a  hurry.  You  can  take  in  at  a 
glance  the  twenty-foot  sign  advertising  PERKINS* 
GHERKINS,  but  the  landscape  which  the  bill  board 
desecrates  will  give  up  its  richest  beauty  only  to  those 
who  look  at  it  again  and  again.  So  it  is  with  a  line 
of  literature. 

Since  we  are  now  in  a  mood  to  gaze  and  gaze,  let 


248    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

us  take  leave  of  the  subject  with  the  discussion  of  two 
sentences  simple  in  denotation,  most  stirring  in  their 
connotation. 

The  democratic  patriot  Brutus  cannot  endure  the 
idea  that  Rome  shall  be  under  one  man's  rule.  This 
makes  it  the  easier  for  Cassius  to  induce  him  to  join 
the  conspiracy.  Cassius  ends  the  first  part  of  his 
speech  of  instigation  with  the  word  "alone."  What 
connotation  in  that  for  noble  Brutus ! 

Ye  gods,  it  doth  amaze  me 
A  man  of  such  a  feeble  temper  should 
So  get  the  start  of  the  majestic  world 
And  bear  the  palm  alone. 

At  this  moment  the  distant  cheering  of  the  mob 
comes  to  Brutus'  ears,  and  he  says: 

I  do  believe  that  these  applauses  are 

For  some  new  honors  that  are  heaped  on  Caesar; 

whereon  Cassius  retorts: 

Why,  man,  he  doth  bestride  the  narrow  world 
Like  a  Colossus,  and  we  petty  men 
Walk  under  his  huge  legs  and  peep  about 
To  find  ourselves  dishonorable  graves. 

Often  as  you  have  read  those  lines,  have  you  until 
now  appreciated  Shakespeare's  art  in  using  them? 
"Bestride,"  "Colossus"  (think  of  the  proud  Brutus 
picturing  himself  a  pigmy  walking — so  tall  is  this 
Colossus — under  Caesar's  huge  legs),  and  "peeping" 
(the  very  sound  of  that  word  is  alive  with  connotation, 


CONNOTATION  249 

especially  in  contrast  with  the  sound  in  "huge")  and 
"dishonorable  graves."  Ah,  you  must  know  the  deno- 
tation of  "bestride"  and  "Colossus,"  or  lose  the  con- 
notation ;  but  granted  the  denotation  in  Brutus'  case, 
how  he  must  have  been  swept  on,  stoic  though  he  was, 
by  the  connotative  appeal  in  Cassius'  impassioned 
words. 

At  Linden  was  fought  a  battle  of  which  the  poet 
sings  in  his  great  war  lyric,  Hoherdinden.  The  open- 
ing words  are : 

On  Linden,  when  the  sun  was  low, 
All  bloodless  lay  th'  untrodden  snow. 

Linger  over  the  picture.  See  it,  and  catch  the  thrill 
of  that  moment  when,  through  the  magic  of  words, 
we  feel  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  what  is  to  be. 
"All  bloodless"  is  the  ominous  suggestion  of  what  the 
next  day's  sun  will  reveal.  "Th'  untrodden  snow" ! 
All  snow  as  it  falls  is  "untrodden."  The  denotation 
and  connotation  here  unite  to  produce  an  effect  that 
makes  the  heart  beat  high  as  we  stand  before  the  cur- 
tain which,  when  it  rises,  shall  reveal  the  awful  hor- 
rors of  war. 

A  sentence  from  Wendell  would  seem  to  apply  to 
those  words:  "Yet  the  force  of  this  [statement]  lies 
not  in  what  is  actually  said,  but  wholly  in  what  is 
implied,  suggested,  connotated." 

Does  not  the  sentence  in  the  following  paragraph 
from  Professor  Bates's  Talks  on  Writing  English 
explain  why  we  are  interested  in  and  enjoy  the  vari- 
ous connotations  discussed  throughout  this  chapter? 


250    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

The  thing  which  the  writer  has  caused  the  reader  to 
think — or  even  to  suppose  himself  to  think — is  sure  to 
interest  him.  The  dullest  of  bores  is  absorbed  in  his 
own  words,  and  in  effect  that  which  the  reader  receives 
by  suggestion  is  his  own  thought.  What  is  denoted  is 
the  word  of  the  writer;  what  is  connoted  is  for  the  time 
being  the  thought  of  the  reader. 

And  a  second  paragraph  from  Professor  Bates : 

Since  the  secret  of  Force  lies  in  connotation,  in  the 
suggestiveness  which  leads  the  mind  onward  into  the 
mood  so  that  it  seems  to  itself  to  originate  the  ideas 
which  are  really  given  to  it  directly  or  indirectly  by  the 
author,  it  follows  that  in  the  use  of  figures  is  one  of  the 
most  effectual  means  of  securing  this  quality.  Job  says, 
"My  days  are  swifter  than  a  weaver's  shuttle,"  and  with 
the  plain  statement  of  the  brevity  of  life  come  sugges- 
tions of  the  inevitableness  of  this  brevity;  we  seem  to 
see  man  tossed  by  the  hand  of  the  unseen,  as  a  shuttle 
is  thrown  by  the  hand  of  the  weaver,  flung  to  and  fro 
without  power  to  stay  or  to  resist.  The  whole  despair- 
ing mood  of  the  afflicted  patriarch  is  summed  up  in  the 
single  simile.  To  come  nearer  to  our  own  times,  take 
that  simile  which  is  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  in  Eng- 
lish literature  outside  of  Shakespeare: 

Fair  as  a  star  when  only  one 
Is  shining  in  the  sky. 

What  is  suggested  is  all  the  serenity  of  the  eventide; 
the  hush  which  comes  between  the  daylight  and  the 
dark;  the  sense  of  peace;  that  feeling  that  a  mystery  is 
being  wrought  before  our  very  eyes,  when  out  of  the 
faintly  rose-purple  haze  of  the  sky  throbs  into  radiance 
the  first  star.  There  is,  too,  that  sense  of  restfulness 
that  belongs  to  the  twilight  coolness,  and,  in  some  unde- 


CONNOTATION  251 

finable  way,  an  idea  of  the  purity  and   innocence  too 
high  and  too  subtle  to  be  defined. 

It  may  be  asked,  then,  why  the  reader  needs  to  have 
his  attention  called  to  Connotation,  since  its  appeal  to 
the  imagination  is  instantaneous,  and  doesn't  have  to 
be  worked  out  like  a  problem  in  geometry.  True,  it 
doesn't:  but  I  wanted  to  impress  upon  you  that 
authors  use  words  deliberately  to  touch  the  imagina- 
tion; and,  furthermore,  I  would  convince  you  that 
while  you  can  dig  out  the  facts  in  books  of  informa- 
tion, the  appeal  that  literature  makes  comes  only  to 
those  who  gaze  and  gaze.  To  catch  the  glory  of  one 
great  line  of  poetry  is  forever  to  be  poetic.  It  is 
experience  we  seek  in  literature,  not  knowledge ;  it  is 
the  joy,  the  ecstasy,  the  delight  of  sharing  with  an 
artist  his  vision  of  what  most  mortals  would  not  see 
without  him.  You  can't  be  examined  on  what  is  best 
in  literature,  on  the  soul  of  things ;  you  can  only  like 
or  dislike ;  appreciate  or  ignore. 

But  I  have  dwelt  on  Connotation  so  long  to  show 
you  that,  although  it  appeals  to  us  directly,  without 
study  (when  we  know  the  denotation),  we  must  dwell, 
we  must  come  with  open  mind,  leisurely,  for  pleasure's 
sake;  not  frivolously,  nor  yet  with  the  contracted 
brow  of  the  philosopher ;  but  in  a  mood,  shall  I  say  ? 
pleasantly  serious,  or  seriously  playful. 

Revelatory  as  the  discussion  of  Connotation  has 
been,  it  has  merely  emphasized  what  we  have  always 
known :  that  words  are  suggestive,  and  that  they  stir 
us  emotionally.  But  have  we  not  learned  the  greatest 
of  all  lessons  in  connection  with  the  study  of  litera- 


252    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

ture?  learned  that  it  can't  be  taught:  that  it  can 
only  be  presented  to  you  for  your  acceptance  or  rejec- 
tion? You  have  come  to  see  that  it  appeals  not  to  the 
practical  or  scientific  side  of  your  nature,  but  to  the 
imaginative ;  that  its  purpose  is  to  give  you  "de- 
light," as  Lowell  says,  through  the  arousal  of  the 
emotions ;  and  Connotation  is  the  most  important  ele- 
ment in  stirring  the  imagination  and  arousing  the 
feelings.  Your  "delight"  is  in  the  pictures,  ideas, 
thoughts,  characters,  music,  of  the  verse  and  prose 
which  is  called  literature.  You  have  come  to  see  now 
that  without  denotation  the  connotation  may  escape 
you  entirely;  and,  best  of  all,  you  see  that  all  you 
know  of  life,  art,  history,  science,  nature,  the  wider 
will  for  you  be  the  connotation  of  literature. 

There  are  no  "Review  Exercises"  in  this  chapter. 
Every  illustration  in  the  book  has  exemplified  Connota- 
tion, and  much  of  the  pleasure  and  advantage  you 
have  derived  from  your  study  has  been  connotative; 
but  I  purposely  avoided  calling  your  attention  to  it 
earlier  because  I  wanted  you  to  discover  it  for  your- 
self, even  though  you  never  called  it  by  that  name. 
You  were  richly  rewarded  (were  you  not?)  for  the 
time  you  spent  in  studying  Grouping  and  Punctuation 
and  Central  Idea,  and  the  rest ;  but  you  little  thought 
what  wealth  to  you  that  study  had  brought  in 
Connotation. 

And  it  is  the  connotation  that  makes  literature 
great.  David  did  not  sing  "The  Lord  is  my  shep- 
herd," and  "As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water 
brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  Thee,  O  God" ;  Milton 


CONNOTATION  253 

did  not  sing,  "Eyeless,  in  Gaza,  at  the  mill,  with 
slaves" ;  nor  did  Shakespeare  sing  his  thousand  thou- 
sand melodies — to  give  us  facts  for  class  study  !  They 
saw  the  beauty  of  the  universe  and  sang  it  for  us. 

It  is  the  beauty  about  us  in  man  and  nature  that 
stirs  the  artist's  heart  and  is  the  impulse  to  create.  It 
is  what  the  ordinary  man  fails  to  see  that  moves  the 
artist's  soul  and  urges  him  to  expression,  whether  he 
be  painter  or  sculptor  or  poet.  To  arouse  deep  feel- 
ing— of  joy  or  pity  or  indignation  or  love — that  is 
art's  mission.  Everything  in  literature  depends  upon 
the  connotation.  And  the  connotation  depends  upon 
our  experience,  our  temperament,  our  education. 
What  moves  me  may  not  move  others,  and  what  stirs 
them  may  leave  me  cold.  But  the  greatest  artist  is  he 
whose  appeal  is  most  nearly  universal,  to  all  peoples 
and  to  all  times. 


CHAPTER  XV 

EMOTION 

In  The  Merchant  of  Venice  Antonio,  who  hates 
Shylock,  frequently  calls  him  "a  dog."  Later  An- 
tonio asks  Shylock  to  lend  him  money,  and  the  latter 
says  "Hath  a  dog  money?"  It  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  what  Shylock  means,  but  how  he  feels  is 
quite  another  matter.  He  may  be  merely  bitter;  or 
again,  he  may  be  smiling  his  sarcasm;  or,  he  may  be 
deeply  angered.  Read  the  passage  according  to  the 
suggested  markings: 

Hath  a  dog  money?  (as  a  simple,  unemotional  ques- 
tion). 

Hath  a  dog  money?  (with  a  smile,  sarcastically). 

Hath  a  dog  money?  (angrily,  and  with  a  sneer). 

In  all  cases  the  denotation  is  the  same,  but  the  con- 
notation is  radically  different  every  time  you  read  it, 
the  difference  depending  on  Shylock's  feeling;  and 
unless  we  understand  that  and,  in  fact,  enter  to  some 
degree  into  it,  we  do  not  understand  the  passage  in 
the  true  sense  of  the  word. 

Astonishment  and  anger  blend  in  the  speech  of 
Cassius  to  Brutus  when  he  describes  the  weakness 
of  this  Caesar  who  now,  according  to  Cassius,  wishes 
to  be  king  of  Rome : 

254 


EMOTION  255 

\        '.-v  *\>  \  :  <  v  \UVi 

He  had  a  fever  when  he  was  in  Spain, 

And  when  the  fit  was  on  him  I  did  mark 

How  he  did  shake:  'tis  true,  this  god  did  shake; 

His  coward  lips  did  from  their  color  fly, 

And  that  same  eye  whose  bend  doth  awe  the  world 

Did  lose  his  lustre.     I  did  hear  him  groan ; 

Ay,  and  that  tongue  of  his,  that  bade  the  Romans 

Mark  him  and  write  his  speeches  in  their  books. 

Alas,  it  cried,  "Give  me  some  drink,  Titinius," 

As  a  sick  girl.    Ye  gods,  it  doth  amaze  me 

A  man  of  such  a  feeble  temper  should 

So  get  the  start  of  the  majestic  world 

And  bear  the  palm  alone. 

— Julius  Caesar,  I,  ii. 

How  cold  and  meaningless,  then,  would  be  all  such 
passages  if  they  were  read  without  emotion !  And 
more  than  that,  I  repeat,  it  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether  one  can  be  said  really  and  fully  to  grasp 
them  unless  he  does  get  the  emotional  value.  A  prob- 
lem in  chemistry  or  a  proposition  in  geometry  would 
be  ridiculous  if  read  with  emotion.  These  are  essen- 
tially unemotional;  but  contrariwise,  how  spoiled 
would  be  Whitman's  beautiful  and  touching  poem  on 
the  death  of  Lincoln  if  the  emotional  element  were 
lacking  in  the  reading.  Read  it  aloud : 

O  Captain !  my  Captain !  our  fearful  trip  is  done, 

The  ship  has  weather'd  every  rack,  the  prize  we  sought 

is  won, 

The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people  all  exulting, 
While  follow  eyes  the  steady  keel,  the  vessel  grim  and 

daring; 
But  O  heart !  heart !  heart ! 

O  the  bleeding  drops  of  red. 


256    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Where  on  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead. 

O  Captain !  my  Captain !   rise  up  and  hear  the  bells ; 
Rise  up — for  you  the  flag  is  flung — for  you  the  bugle 

trills, 
For  you  bouquets   and  ribbon 'd   wreaths — for  you   the 

shores  a-crowding, 
For  you  they  call,  the  swaying  mass,  their  eager  faces 

turning ; 

Hear  Captain!  dear  father! 
This  arm  beneath  your  head! 

It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck, 
You've  fallen  cold  and  dead. 

My  Captain  does  not  answer,  his  lips  are  pale  and  still, 
My  father  does  not  feel  my  arm,  he  has  no  pulse  nor  will. 
The  ship  is  anchor'd  safe  and  sound,  its  voyage  closed 

and  done. 
From  fearful  trip  the  victor  ship  comes  in  with  object 

won; 

Exult,  O  shores,  and  ring,  O  bells ! 
But  I  with  mournful  tread, 

Walk  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead. 

— WHITMAN:    O  Captain!   My  Captain! 

Many  students  seem  to  be  ashamed  to  express  emo- 
tion in  their  reading;  others  believe  they  cannot  ex- 
press it  vocally ;  but  both  classes  are  mistaken.  Ob- 
serve them,  at  home,  on  the  playground,  and  they 
overflow  with  feeling  of  one  kind  and  another.  Let 
these  students  once  understand  how  much  they  lose  of 
the  pleasure  of  literature  by  ignoring  the  emotional 
element;  let  them  once  experience  the  joy  of  fullest 
expression,  and  they  will  soon  find  they  can,  express 


EMOTION  257 

the  feeling.  Perhaps,  too,  there  are  some  who  have 
come  to  believe  that  it  is  a  sign  of  weakness  or  child 
ishness  to  express  emotion;  but  consMcr  for  a  moment 
that  the  very  essence  of  life  is  feeling;  that  all  art, 
and  particularly  the  art  of  literature,  is  in  the  last 
analysis  not  much  but  feeling,  and  the  self-conscious- 
ness, which  is  the  chief  drawback  to  full  expres- 
sion, is  more  than  likely  to  disappear. 

To  show  the  importance  of  the  emotional  content 
let  us  examine  some  passages  from  great  authors  in 
which  the  emotion  is  described,  in  order  that  there 
may  be  no  doubt  in  the  reader's  mind  concerning  it. 
Surely,  if  an  author  goes  to  the  pains  of  describing 
the  feeling  with  which  certain  words  are  uttered,  we 
cannot  read  those  words  aloud  and  do  justice  to  the 
author's  intention  unless  we  manifest  the  emotion  in 
our  own  voices.  Even  if  we  do  not  read  aloud,  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  text 
unless  we  experience  to  some  degree  the  emotion  as 
described  by  the  author. 

Read  the  next  scene,  from  George  Eliot's  The  Mill 
on  the  Floss: 

"Well,  but,  Tom,  you  know  if  mother  let  me  give  you 
two  half  crowns  you  could  buy  some  more  rabbits 
with  it." 

"More  rabbits?     I  don't  want  any  more." 

"Oh,  but,  Tom,  they're  all  dead." 

"You  forgot  to  feed  'em,  then?"  he  said,  his  color 
heightening.  "I  don't  love  you,  Maggie.  You  shan't  go 
fishing  with  me  tomorrow.  I  told  you  to  go  and  see  the 
rabbits  every  day." 

"Yes.      But   I    forgot— and    I   couldn't   hrlp   it.   Tom. 


258    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

I'm  very  sorry,"  said  Maggie,  while  the  tears  rushed 
fast. 

"You're  a  naughty  girl,"  said  Tom,  severely,  "and 
I'm  sorry  I  bought  you  the  fish-line.  I  don't  love  you." 

"Oh,  Tom,"  sobbed  Maggie,  "I'd  forgive  you  if  you 
forgot  anything — I'd  forgive  you  and  love  you." 

"Yes,  you're  a  silly;  but  I  never  do  forget  things — I 
don't.  You're  a  naughty  girl,  and  you  shan't  go  fishing 
with  me  tomorrow." 

With  this  terrible  conclusion,  Tom  ran  away  from 
Maggie  toward  the  mill. 

When  you  came  to  the  words,  "You  forgot  to  feed 
'em,  then?"  you  could  not  tell  at  once  how  Tom  felt. 
The  words  themselves  do  not  suggest  the  emotion;  it 
might  have  been  merely  a  simple  question  on  Tom's 
part.  But  as  you  read  further  the  author  adds,  "he 
said,  his  color  heightening."  Under  the  circum- 
stances what  does  his  heightening  color  connote? 
You  may  answer  "anger" ;  but  heightening  color  does 
not  always  suggest  anger.  Then  you  read  still  fur- 
ther and  see  that  he  really  is  angry.  Now  that  you 
have  found  how  he  feels,  you  can  read  the  line  with 
Tom's  emotion. 

Take  the  next  little  paragraph,  which  contains 
Maggie's  answer.  Not  until  you  come  to  the  author's 
description  of  Maggie's  tears  do  you  understand 
how  she  felt.  She  really  is  weeping  when  she  says 
the  word  "yes,"  but  there  is  no  way  for  the  person 
who  is  reading  at  sight  to  know  that.  There  are  a 
hundred  ways  in  which  to  utter  the  word  "yes,"  but 
there  is  only  one  right  way  in  this  particular  case. 

A  few  lines  further,  after  Tom  has  told  Maggie  he 


EMOTION  259 

doesn't  love  her,  she  says,  "Oh,  Tom,"  but  you  cannot 
tell  what  her  feeling  is  until  you  get  to  the  descrip- 
tion "sobbed  Maggie."  If,  then,  you  want  your 
audience  to  get  the  true  picture  of  Maggie  you  must 
get  the  sobbing  mood  before  you  speak  the  words 
"Oh,  Tom,"  etc.  This  principle,  that  you  must  get 
the  mood  before  you  can  read  the  words  with  the  right 
feeling,  applies  to  every  group  you  read  aloud.  You 
must  never  forget  that  the  author  or  character  feel* 
before  he  expresses,  and  that  we,  therefore,  in  repre- 
senting that  author  or  character,  must  do  likewise. 

Furthermore,  you  must  not  forget  that  the  emotion 
may  change  many  times  within  one  paragraph  or 
scene.  In  the  following,  from  Dickens'  A  Christmas 
Carol,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  emotional  variety : 

"A  merry  Christmas,  uncle!  God  save  you!"  cried  a 
cheerful  voice.  It  was  the  voice  of  Scrooge's  nephew, 
who  came  upon  him  so  quickly  that  this  was  the  first 
intimation  Scrooge  had  of  his  approach. 

"Bah!"  said  Scrooge;  "humbug!" 

"Christmas  a  humbug,  uncle?  You  don't  mean  that. 
I  am  sure." 

"I  do,"  said  Scrooge.  "Merry  Christmas !  What  right 
have  you  to  be  merry?  What  reason  have  you  to  be 
merry?  You're  poor  enough." 

"Come,  then,"  returned  the  nephew  gayly.  "What 
right  have  you  to  be  dismal?  You're  rich  enough." 

Scrooge  having  no  better  answer  ready,  said  "Bah!" 
again  and  followed  it  up  with  "Humbug!" 

"Don't  be  cross,  uncle !"  said  the  nephew. 

"What  else  can  I  be,"  returned  the  uncle,  "when  I 
live  in  such  a  world  of  fools  as  this?  If  I  had  my  will, 
every  idiot  who  goes  about  with  'Merry  Christmas'  on 


260    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

his  lips  should  be  boiled  with  his  own  pudding  and  buried 
with  a  stake  of  holly  through  his  heart.  He  should !" 

"Uncle!" 

"Nephew,  keep  Christmas  in  your  own  way,  and  let 
me  keep  it  in  mine." 

"Keep  it!    But  you  don't  keep  it." 

"Let  me  leave  it  alone,  then.  Much  good  may  it  do 
you !  Much  good  it  has  ever  done  you !" 

"Uncle,  though  it  has  never  put  a  scrap  of  gold  or 
silver  in  my  pocket,  I  believe  that  it  has  done  me  good, 
and  will  do  me  good;  and  I  say,  God  bless  it!" 

Scrooge,  a  bitter,  mean,  sour  old  miser,  is  sitting 
in  his  office  on  Christmas  eve  when  his  nephew  bursts 
into  the  room.  In  the  opening  paragraph  there  are 
three  distinct  moods:  first,  the  joy  of  the  nephew; 
then,  your  rather  bright  comment  on  the  nephew's 
voice;  and  third,  the  simple  explanation  of  the  visit. 
The  reply  of  Scrooge  shows  all  his  contempt  for 
Christmas.  His  mood  is  what  we  call  familiarly 
"grouchy" ;  then  note  the  surprise  in  the  nephew's 
rejoinder  "Christmas  a  humbug,  uncle?"  and  so  on, 
the  mood  changing  in  almost  every  group  to  the  end. 
In  the  next  example  the  moods  are  not  so  strongly 
contrasted  as  in  the  Dickens  scene.  Sometimes  it  is 
only  a  question  of  degree  of  the  same  mood,  as  in  the 
opening  lines.  This  speech  is  a  continuation  of  the 
scene  we  have  already  studied  in  Julius  Caesar.  When 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  mob  has  told  Marullus,  after 
much  joking,  that  the  citizens  have  been  making  a 
holiday  to  see  Caesar  and  to  rejoice  in  his  triumph, 
Marullus,  who  dislikes  Caesar,  retorts : 


EMOTION  261 

Wherefore  rejoice?     What  conquest  brings  he  home? 

What  tributaries  follow  him  to  Rome, 

To  grace  in  captive  bonds  his  chariot  wheels? 

His  anger  grows  with  each  group.  This  increasing 
emotion  is  suggested  by  the  printing : 

Wherefore  rejoice? 

WHAT  CONQUEST  BRINGS  HE  HOME? 

What  tributaries  follow  him  to  Rome, 

To  grace  in  captive  bonds  his  chariot  wheels? 

By  this  method  of  marking  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
Marullus  shouts  more  loudly  with  each  succeeding 
group,  but  that  his  passion  increases.  The  anger 
grows  still  more  intense  as  he  sweeps  on : 

YOU  BLOCKS,  YOU  STONES,  YOU  WORSE  THAN 
SENSELESS  THINGS! 

Then  comes  to  him  the  memory  of  the  love  the  citizens 
formerly  bore  to  Pompey,  whose  sons  Caesar  has  just 
overthrown  in  battle,  and  his  mood  softens:  he  is  not 
so  angry  as  he  is  grieved  over  their  ingratitude.  He 
seems  to  chide  rather  tenderly  (just  us  your  teacher 
might  say,  when  you  had  done  something  he  felt  to 
be  unworthy  of  you,  "It  is  too  bad  that  a  fellow  like 
you  should  do  a  thing  like  that")  when  he  says: 

O  you  hard  hearts,  you  cruel  men  of  Rome; 

but  at  this  point  a  new  thought  flushes  across  his 
mind : 

Knew  you  not  Pompey? 

He   is    not   asking   a   question    for    information;    he 


262    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

knows  that  they  knew  Pompey;  but  he  means  "Is  it 
possible,  after  all  the  love  you  bore  to  Pompey,  that 
now,  when  his  enemy,  Caesar,  appears,  you  forget 
your  former  friend?"  There  is  overwhelming  aston- 
ishment, perhaps  blended  with  regret,  that  is  ex- 
pressed in  those  four  words.  Read  now  the  remain- 
der of  the  paragraph  silently,  studying  it  carefully 
for  the  various  moods,  and  then  read  the  entire  speech 
aloud  and  convey  to  the  listeners  its  emotion : 

Many  a  time  and  oft 

Have  you  climb'd  up  to  walls  and  battlements, 
To  towers  and  windows,  yea,  to  chimney  tops, 
Your  infants  in  your  arms,  and  there  have  sat 
The  livelong  day,  with  patient  expectation, 
To  see  great  Pompey  pass  the  streets  of  Rome ; 
And  when  you  saw  his  chariot  but  appear, 
Have  you  not  made  an  universal  shout, 
That  Tiber  trembled  underneath  her  banks, 
To  hear  the  replication  of  your  sounds 
Made  in  her  concave  shores? 
And  do  you  now  put  on  your  best  attire  ? 
And  do  you  now  cull  out  a  holiday  ? 
And  do  you  now  strew  flowers  in  his  way, 
That  comes  in  triumph  over  Pompey's  blood? 
Begone ! 

Run  to  your  houses,  fall  upon  your  knees, 
Pray  to  the  gods  to  intermit  the  plague 
That  needs  must  light  on  this  ingratitude. 

The  following  bit  of  nonsense  is  a  good  exercise 
in  vocal  variety: 

One  hot  day,  last  summer,  a  young  man,  dressed  in 
thin  clothes,  entered  a  Broadway  car,  and,  seating  him- 
self opposite  a  stout  old  gentleman,  said,  pleasantly: 


EMOTION 


263 


"Pretty  warm,  isn't  it?" 

"What's  pretty  warm?" 

"Why,  the  weather." 

"What  weather?" 

"Why,  this  weather." 

"Well,  how's  this  different  from  any  other  weather?" 

"Well,  it's  warmer." 

"How  do  you  know  it  is?" 

"I  suppose  it  is." 

"Isn't  the  weather  the  same  everywhere?" 

"Why,  n-o, — no;  it's  warmer  in  some  places,  and 
colder  in  others." 

"What  makes  it  warmer  in  some  places  than  it's  colder 
in  others?" 

"Why,  the  sun, — the  effect  of  the  sun's  heat." 

"Makes  it  colder  in  some  places  than  it's  warmer  in 
others?  Never  heard  of  such  a  thing." 

"No,  no,  no, — I  didn't  mean  that.  The  sun  makes  it 
warmer." 

"Then  what  makes  it  colder?" 

"I  believe  it's  the  ice." 

"What  ice?" 

"Why,  the  ice — the  i-c-e — the  ice  that  was  frozen 
by — by — by  the  frost." 

"Have  you  ever  seen  any  ice  that  wasn't  frozen?" 

"No.     That  is,  I  don't  believe  I  have." 

"Then  what  are  you  talking  about?" 

"I  was  just  trying  to  talk  about  the  weather." 

"And  what  do  you  know  about  it? — what  do  you  know 
about  the  weather?" 

"Well,  I  thought  I  knew  something;  but  I  see  I  don't, 
and  that's  a  fact." 

"No,  sir;  I  should  say  you  didn't!  Yet  you  come  into 
this  car,  and  force  yourself  on  the  attention  of  a  stranger, 
and  begin  to  talk  about  the  weather,  just  as  if  you  owned 
it;  and  I  find  you  don't  know  a  solitary  thing  about  the 
matter." — The  Weather  Fiend. 


264    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

There  is  nothing  new  about  this  aspect  of  interpre- 
tation. We  are  continually  feeling  and  expressing 
our  feeling;  why,  then,  are  we  so  diffident  in  vocal 
expression?  Let  us  suppose  that  school  is  dismissed 
and  that  as  you  leave  someone  asks  you  where  you 
are  going,  and  that  you  answer  carelessly :  "Oh,  I'm 
going  home."  Your  manner  indicates  that  you  are 
simply  stating  a  fact.  Suppose,  however,  that  in  the 
midst  of  a  highly  interesting  game  of  football  your 
father  insists  upon  your  going  home  at  once  and  that 
you  reluctantly  leave  the  game.  On  your  way  home 
someone  asks:  "Where  are  you  going?"  and  you 
reply,  "Oh,  shucks,  I'm  going  home."  What  a  dif- 
ference in  your  voice!  Suppose  you  are  very  angry 
at  leaving  the  game;  express  your  feelings  in  the 
answer,  "Oh,  I'm  going  home !"  But  if  you  had  been 
away  to  school  for  several  months  and  had  been  long- 
ing to  go  home,  what  joy  there  would  be  in  your 
answer  if,  as  you  were  running  to  the  train,  someone 
asked  where  you  were  going  and  you  called  out,  "Oh, 
I'm  going  home !" 

You  see,  the  variations  are  the  result  of  feelings 
caused  by  the  idea  of  going  home  under  different  cir- 
cumstances. The  words  and  meaning  are  in  each  case 
the  same,  but  the  feelings  in  your  answers  are  rad- 
ically different.  The  emotion  affected  your  manner 
and  the  quality  of  your  voice,  and  these,  and  not  the 
words,  indicated  your  feeling.  Of  course,  your  face 
and  body  will  also  be  affected  by  the  emotion  and  will 
express  as  much  of  your  feeling  as  does  your  voice. 
But  the  bodily  and  facial  expression  may  be  safely 


EMOTION  2<>f> 

left  to  take  care  of  themselves.  It  is  then  what  you 
are  experiencing  emotionally — whether  you  are  angry, 
or  glad,  or  sorry,  etc.,  that  determines  the  expression 
of  the  feeling.  This  is  what  we  mean  by  "emotional 
values."  In  our  daily  lives  we  are  constantly  express- 
ing values:  we  express  ourselves  as  being  gay,  or 
sad,  or  dejected;  but  when  it  comes  to  reading  aloud 
we  frequently  fail  to  express  the  emotion. 

I  have  heard  a  scene  from  the  third  chapter  of 
Sttas  Marner  utterly  spoiled  through  the  failure  of 
the  student  to  observe  the  emotional  values.  You  re- 
member that  Godfrey  Cass  has  married  Molly  Farren 
without  the  knowledge  of  his  father.  Godfrey's 
brother,  Dtunsey,  knows  the  secret,  and  compels  his 
brother  to  give  him  money  to  remain  silent.  Godfrey, 
without  his  father's  knowledge,  has  collected  the  rent 
from  one  of  the  tenants  and  handed  it  over  to  Dunsey. 
The  father  is  impatient  to  have  the  rent  (not  knowing 
it  has  been  paid),  and  is  threatening  to  turn  out  the 
tenant  unless  he  pays.  In  great  distress  Godfrey 
sends  for  his  brother,  who  comes,  and  the  following 
scene  takes  place.  That  the  author  wants  the  reader 
to  understand  the  emotion  in  the  brothers'  speeches  is 
seen  by  the  pains  she  takes  to  describe  details.  Dun- 
sey's  first  sentence  is  spoken  in  a  "mocking  tone,"  and 
Godfrey  answers  him  "savagely";  Dunsey  replies 
"sneeringly" ;  and  how  markedly  the  elder  brother's 
emotion  is  suggested  by  the  sentence,  "Godfrey  bit  his 
lip  and  clenched  his  fist"!  This  scene  and  the  next 
must  be  read  aloud  with  close  attention  to  the  author's 
suggestions  regarding  emotion : 


266    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

It  was  the  once  hopeful  Godfrey  who  was  standing 
with  his  hands  in  his  side-pockets  and  his  back  to  the 
fire  one  late  November  afternoon. 

The  door  opened,  and  a  thick-set,  heavy-looking  young 
man  entered  in  the  first  stage  of  intoxication.  It  was 
Dunsey. 

"Well,  Master  Godfrey,  what  do  you  want  with  me?" 
said  he,  in  a  mocking  tone. 

"Why,  this  is  what  I  want — and  just  shake  yourself 
sober  and  listen,  will  you?"  said  Godfrey,  savagely.  "I 
want  to  tell  you,  I  must  hand  over  that  rent  of  Fowler's 
to  the  Squire,  or  tell  him  I  gave  it  you." 

"Oh !"  said  Dunsey,  sneeringly.  "Suppose,  now,  you 
get  the  money  yourself,  and  save  me  the  trouble,  eh? 
Since  you  was  so  kind  as  to  hand  it  over  to  me,  you'll 
not  refuse  me  the  kindness  to  pay  it  back  for  me;  it 
was  your  brotherly  love  made  you  do  it,  you  know." 

Godfrey  bit  his  lip  and  clenched  his  fist.  "Don't 
come  near  me  with  that  look,  else  I'll  knock  you  down." 

"Oh,  no,  you  won't.  Because  I'm  such  a  good-natured 
brother,  you  know.  I  might  get  you  turned  out  of  house 
and  home,  and  cut  off  with  a  shilling  any  day.  I  might 
tell  the  Squire  how  his  handsome  son  was  married  to 
that  nice  young  woman,  Molly  Farren,  and  was  very 
unhappy  because  he  couldn't  live  with  his  drunken  wife. 
But  you  see,  I  don't  do  it — I'm  so  easy  and  good-natured. 
You'll  get  the  hundred  pounds  for  me — I  know  you  will." 

In  a  scene  later  (chapter  vii)  there  is  much  stress 
laid  on  the  emotion.  When  Silas  discovers  the  loss  of 
his  gold  he  suspects  one  of  the  loose  characters  of  the 
village,  and  goes  to  the  inn  to  find  him. 

For  a  few  moments  there  was  a  dead  silence,  Marner's 
want  of  breath  and  agitation  not  allowing  him  to  speak. 
The  landlord  ...  at  last  took  on  himself  the  task  of 
adjuring  the  ghost. 


EMOTION  267 

"Master  Marner,"  he  said,  in  a  conciliatory  tone, 
"what's  lacking  to  you?  What's  your  business  here?" 

"Robbed!"  said  Silas,  gaspingly.  "I've  been  robbed! 
I  want  the  constable — and  the  justice—and  Squire 
Cass — and  Mr.  Crackenthorp." 

"Lay  hold  on  him,  Jem  Rodney,"  said  the  landlord, 
the  idea  of  a  ghost  subsiding;  "he's  off  his  head,  I  doubt. 
He's  wet  through." 


"Come  and  lay  hold  on  him  yourself,  Mr.  Snell,  if 
you've  a  mind,"  said  Jem,  rather  sullenly.  "He's  been 
robbed,  and  murdered,  too,  for  what  I  know,"  he  added, 
in  a  muttering  tone. 

"Jem  Rodney!"  said  Silas,  turning  and  fixing  his 
strange  eyes  on  the  suspected  man. 

"Ay,  Master  Marner,  what  do  you  want  wi'  me?"  said 
Jem,  trembling  a  little,  and  seizing  his  drinking-can 
as  a  defensive  weapon. 

"If  it  was  you  stole  my  money,"  said  Silas,  clasping 
his  hands  entreatingly,  and  raising  his  voice  to  a  cry, 
"give  it  me  back, — and  I  won't  meddle  with  you.  I 
won't  set  the  constable  on  you.  Give  it  me  back,  and  I'll 
let  you — I'll  let  you  have  a  guinea." 

"Me  stole  your  money?"  said  Jem,  angrily.  "I'll 
pitch  this  can  at  your  eye  if  you  talk  o'  my  stealing  your 
money." 

"Come,  come,  Master  Marner,"  said  the  landlord,  now 
rising  resolutely,  and  seizing  Marner  by  the  shoulder, 
"if  you've  got  any  information  to  lay,  speak  it  out  sen- 
sible, and  show  as  you're  in  your  right  mind,  if  you 
expect  anybody  to  listen  to  you.  You're  as  wet  as  a 
drowned  rat.  Sit  down  and  dry  yourself,  and  speak 
straightforrard." 

"Ay,  ay,  make  him  sit  down,"  said  several  voices  at 
once,  well  pleased  that  the  reality  of  ghosts  remained 
still  an  open  question. 


268    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Authors  do  not  always  describe  so  definitely  as  in 
the  above  scenes  the  feelings  of  the  speakers,  but  in 
many  cases  the  language,  without  any  remark  of  the 
author,  indicates  the  emotions.  For  instance,  in  the 
next  example  we  recognize  these  at  once,  although  the 
author  does  not  state  explicitly  what  they  are.  If 
you  read  the  passage  aloud  you  will  find  it  difficult  to 
keep  out  the  emotion.  In  Horseshoe  Robinson's  Ruse, 
a  story  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  some  English  sol- 
diers have  taken  refuge  in  a  hut  from  danger  and 
attack,  and  have  left  their  muskets  out  of  reach  at  the 
farther  end  of  the  room.  Suddenly  an  American  ser- 
geant appears  at  the  door,  crying: 

"I  demand  the  surrender  of  all  here,"  as  he  planted 
himself  between  the  party  and  their  weapons.  "I  will 
shoot  down  the  first  man  who  moves  a  foot." 

"Leap  to  your  arms !"  cries  the  young  officer  who 
commanded  the  little  party  inside  of  the  house.  "Why 
do  you  stand?" 

"I  don't  want  to  do  you  or  your  men  any  harm,  young 
man,"  said  Robinson,  as  he  brought  his  rifle  to  a  level ; 
"but  I  will  not  leave  one  of  you  to  be  put  upon  a  muster 
roll  if  you  raise  a  hand  at  this  moment!" 

Both  parties  now  stood  for  a  brief  space  eyeing  each 
other,  in  a  fearful  suspense.  "You  see,"  continued  the 
sergeant,  "it's  not  worth  while  fighting  five  to  one;  so 
take  my  advice,  and  surrender  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress and  this  scrap  of  its  army  which  I  command." 

The  English  officer,  believing  his  force  to  be  outnum- 
bered, said: 

"Lower  your  rifle,  sir.  In  the  presence  of  a  superior 
force,  taken  by  surprise  and  without  arms,  it  is  my  duty 
to  save  bloodshed.  With  the  promise  of  fair  usage  and 


EMOTION  269 

the  rights  of  prisoners  of   war,   I   surrender  this   little 
foraging  party  under  my  command." 

"I'll  make  the  terms  agreeable;  never  doubt  me,  sir. 
Officer,"  said  the  sergeant,  addressing  one  of  his  sub- 
ordinates, "advance  and  receive  the  arms  of  the  pris- 
oners !" 

In  the  speech  of  both  officers  there  is  u  good  deal  of 
emotion  and  characterization ;  but  the  author  says 
nothing  of  these:  the  words  and  the  situation  are 
enough. 

A  very  simple  but  convincing  illustration  of  the 
power  of  a  few  words  to  convey  emotion  in  dramatic 
narrative  is  found  in  Tennyson's  Passing  of  Arthur. 
Anyone  who  fails  to  picture  the  dying  king  growing 
weaker  and  weaker,  rebuking  Sir  Bedivere  for  deceiv- 
ing him,  who  does  not,  at  least  to  some  extent,  enter 
imaginatively  into  the  king's  moods,  who  does  not 
conceive  his  very  physical  as  well  as  mental  and 
emotional  conditions,  will  surely  miss  much  of  the 
poet's  intention :  certainly  he  cannot  hope  to  read 
aloud  effectively  the  exquisitely  beautiful  narrative. 
It  is  idle  talk  to  say  one  understands  such  a  scene  but 
cannot  give  it  emotional  expression.  It  is  not  so: 
one  can,  if  he  will  but  strive  to  sec  the  pictures  vividly. 
Vive  with  them:  and  then,  with  no  effort  after  elocu- 
tionary effect,  simply  express,  trying  only  to  make 
others  sec  and  feel  what  the  poet  has  set  before  us. 

The  noble  King  Arthur,  deserted  by  many  of  his 
knights,  while  those  who  have  been   faithful    to  him 
have  fallen  in  battle — all  but  one,  the  "bold  Sir  Bedi 
vere" — lies  wounded  unto  death,  with  onlv  Sir  Bedi- 


270    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

vere  to  comfort  him.  By  his  side  lies  his  good  sword 
Excalibur,  which,  when  first  he  became  king,  rose  from 
out  the  bosom  of  the  very  lake  beside  which  he  lies 
dying.  This  sword  he  bids  Sir  Bedivere  take  and 
fling  into  the  lake  from  which  it  came,  to  "watch  what 
he  sees"  and  quickly  return  to  his  king.  So  over 
rugged  rocks  climbs  the  Knight,  but  when  he  is  about 
to  cast  the  sword  away  its  marvellous  beauty  causes 
him  to  hesitate,  and  finally  he  hides  it,  and  slowly  re- 
turns to  his  king,  who  asks: 

"What  is  it  thou  hast  seen?  or  what  hast  heard?" 
and  answer  comes : 

"I  heard  the  ripple  washing  in  the  reeds. 
And  the  wild  water  lapping  on  the  crag." 

Then  the  poem  continues : 

To  whom  replied  King  Arthur,  faint  and  pale: 
"Thou  hast  betray'd  thy  nature  and  thy  name." 

And  I  have  italicized  the  words  denoting  Arthur's  con- 
dition, a  condition  which  will  appeal  to  your  imagina- 
tion, and  that  will  in  turn  vitally  affect  your  interpre- 
tation of  Arthur's  entire  speech.  Arthur  continues : 

"This  is  a  shameful  thing  for  men  to  lie. 
Yet  now,  I  charge  thee,  quickly  go  again, 
As  thou  art  lief  and  dear,  and  do  the  thing 
I  bade  thee,  watch,  and  lightly  bring  me  word." 

Of  course  Arthur's  indignation  is  evident  in  every 
line,  but  the  vocal  expression  of  it  is  strongly  modified 
by  his  physical  weakness,  faint  and  pale. 


EMOTION  27 1 

Then  Sir  Bedivere  goes  a  second  time,  and  again  he 
fails,  and  again  he  hides  the  sword : 

Then  spoke  King  Arthur,  breathing  heavily: 
"What  is  it  thou  hast  seen?   or  what  hast  heard?" 

And  answer  made  the  bold  Sir  Bedivere: 
"I  heard  the  water  lapping  on  the  crag, 

And  the  long  ripple  washing  in  the  reeds." 

To  whom  replied  King  Arthur,  much  in  wrath : 
"Ah,  miserable  and  unkind,  untrue, 

Unknightly,  traitor-hearted !" 

The  breathing  heavily  shows  Arthur's  increasing  weak- 
ness, but  yet  he  rouses  himself  to  speak  in  wrath.  For 
the  third  time  he  commands  Sir  Bedivere,  ending  with 
a  threat  that  stirs  all  that  is  best  in  Sir  Bedivere  to 
action : 

"Yet,  for  a  man  may  fail  in  duty  twice, 
And  the  third  time  may  prosper,  get  thee  hence; 
But  if  thou  spare  to  fling  Excalibur 
I  will  arise  and  slay  thee  with  my  hands." 

The  sword  is  thrown;  lightly  conies  the  knight  to  tell 
his  story  to  the  king.  But  observe  Arthur's  condi- 
tion. 

Then  spake  King  Arthur,  drawing  thicker  breath : 
"Now  see  I  by  thine  eyes  that  this  is  done. 
Speak  out:    what  is  it  thou  hast  heard,  or  seen?" 

And  Sir  Bedivere  describes  what  happened  after  he 
had  flung  the  sword. 

But  Arthur's  end  is  rapidly  approaching: 

And  answer  made  King  Arthur,  breathing  hard: 
"My  end  draws  nigh;  'tis  time  that  I  were  gone. 


272    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Make  broad  thy  shoulders  to  receive  my  weight, 

And  bear  me  to  the  margin ;  yet  I  fear 

My  wound  hath  taken  cold,  and  I  shall  die." 

The  brief  phrases  indicating  Arthur's  feelings  and 
failing  strength  are  apparently  so  insignificant  com- 
pared with  the  dramatic  element  of  the  scene  that  we 
are  more  than  likely  to  disregard  them.  Imagine  then 
you  were  playing  the  part  of  the  dying  king,  and  you 
will  recognize  at  once  how  weak  would  your  portrayal 
be  if  you  did  not  follow  the  author's  suggestions  as  to 
all  the  shades  of  Arthur's  physical  and  mental  and 
emotional  states. 

In  drama  the  author  gives  no  definite  description 
of  the  emotion  of  the  speakers.  Occasionally  one 
character  speaks  of  the  emotion  of  another  (as  when 
Cassius,  reverting  to  the  scene  between  Brutus  and  the 
poet,  after  the  Quarrel  Scene,  says,  "I  did  not  think 
you  could  have  been  so  angry"),  but  that  is  rare. 
The  reader  can  judge  of  the  emotion  only  by  the 
text,  the  situation,  and  the  temperament  of  the  char- 
acters. 

The  opening  scene  of  Julius  Caesar  brings  before 
us  a  large  mob  of  Roman  workmen  making  holiday 
because  Caesar  is  returning  triumphantly  to  Rome 
from  the  wars.  Although  we  studied  this  scene  in 
another  connection,  we  have  by  no  means  exhausted 
its  possibilities  as  an  exercise  in  interpretation.  A 
Roman  tribune,  who  hates  Caesar,  is  saying: 

Hence !  home,  you  idle  creatures,  get  you  home : 
Is  this  a  holiday?     What!   know  you  not, 


EMOTION  273 

Being  mechanical,  you  ought  not  walk 
Upon  a  laboring  day  without  the  sign 
Of  your  profession?  Speak,  what  trade  art  thou? 

You  see  from  the  words,  "Hence !  home,  you  idle  crea- 
tures," etc.,  what  the  mood  of  Flavins  is.  But  the 
citizens  do  not  take  the  tribune  seriously,  and  persist 
in  joking  and  punning: 

First  Com.    Why,  sir,  a  carpenter. 

Mar.    Where  is  thy  leather  apron  and  thy  rule? 
What  dost  thou  with  thy  best  apparel  on  ? 
You,  sir,  what  trade  are  you? 

Sec.  Com.  Truly,  sir,  in  respect  of  a  fine  workman, 
I  am  but,  as  you  would  say,  a  cobbler. 

Mar.     But  what  trade  art  thou?  answer  me  directly. 

Sec.  Com.  A  trade,  sir,  that,  I  hope.  I  may  use  with 
a  safe  conscience;  which  is,  indeed,  sir,  a  mender  of 
bad  soles. 

Mar.  What  trade,  thou  knave?  thou  naughty  knave, 
what  trade? 

Sec.  Com.  Nay,  I  beseech  you,  sir,  be  not  out  with 
me:  yet,  if  you  be  out,  sir,  I  can  mend  you. 

Mar.  What  meanest  thou  by  that?  mend  me,  thou 
saucy  fellow ! 

Sec.  Com.     Why,  sir,  cobble  you. 

Flav.     Thou  art  a  cobbler,  art  thou? 

Sec.  Com.  Truly,  sir,  all  that  I  live  by  is  with  the 
awl:  I  meddle  with  no  tradesman's  matters,  nor  women's 
matters,  but  with  awl.  I  am.  indeed,  sir.  a  surgeon  to 
old  shoes;  when  they  are  in  great  danger.  I  recover 
them.  As  proper  men  as  ever  trod  upon  neat's  leather 
have  gone  upon  my  handiwork. 

Flav .  But  wherefore  art  not  in  thy  shop  today  ?  Why 
dost  thou  lead  these  men  about  the  streets  ? 


274    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Sec.  Com.  Truly,  sir,  to  wear  out  their  shoes,  to  get 
myself  into  more  work.  But,  indeed,  sir,  we  make 
holiday,  to  see  Caesar  and  to  rejoice  in  his  triumph. 

Further  illustrations  of  this  type  are  not  necessary : 
they  are  found  in  connection  with  your  study  of 
novels  and  of  Shakespeare. 

We  come  now  to  lyric  selections  in  which  the  poet 
speaks  in  his  own  person,  or,  if  it  is  not  the  poet,  then 
some  character  not  mentioned.  There  is  little  or  no 
narrative  in  this  class  of  poetry :  it  is  generally  the 
intense  musical  expression  of  a  single  mood.  In  The 
Sea  it  is  the  author's  joy  that  finds  expression.  When 
we  read  aloud  we  take  the  poet's  place,  and  naturally 
must  at  least  suggest  the  feelings  which  seem  to  be  his. 
Here  are  a  few  passages  of  a  sprightly  lyrical 
nature : 

Up  the  airy  mountain, 

Down  the  rushy  glen, 
We  daren't  go  a-hunting 
For  fear  of  little  men. 
Wee  folk,  good  folk, 

Trooping  all  together; 
Green  jacket,  red  cap, 
And  white  owl's  feather! 

Down  along  the  rocky  shore 

Some  make  their  home — 
They  live  on  crispy  pancakes 

Of  yellow  tide- foam; 
Some  in  the  reeds 

Of  the  black-mountain  lake, 
With  frogs  for  their  watch-dogs, 

All  night  awake. 

— ALLINGHAM:    The  Fairies. 


EMOTION  275 

It  is  fairy-like  spirits  that  sing  the  next  two  lyrics: 

Where  the  bee  sucks,  there  suck  I ; 

In  a  cowslip's  bell  I  lie; 

There  I  couch,  when  owls  do  cry : 

On  the  bat's  back  I  do  fly 

After  summer  merrily. 

Merrily,  merrily,  shall  I  live  now, 

Under  the  blossom  that  hangs  on  the  bough ! 

— The  Tempett,  V,  i. 

Over  hill,  over  dale, 

Through  bush,  through  brier, 
Over  park,  over  pale, 

Through  flood,  through  fire, 
I  do  wander  everywhere, 
Swifter  than  the  moon's  sphere; 
And  I  serve  the  fairy  queen, 
To  dew  her  orbs  upon  the  green, 
The  cowslips  tall  her  pensioners  be, 
In  their  gold  coats  spots  you  see; 
Those  be  rubies,  fairy  favors, 
In  those  freckles  live  their  savors. 
I  must  go  seek  some  dewdrops  here. 
And  hang  a  pearl  in  every  cowslip's  ear. 

— A  Midsummer-Night's  Dream,  II,  i. 

At  Columbus,  Miss.,  on  Memorial  Day,  1867,  flow- 
ers were  strewn  alike  upon  the  graves  of  Northern  and 
Southern  soldiers.  In  the  spirit  that  dictated  that 
beautiful  tribute  let  the  student  read  these  stanzas: 

By  the  flow  of  the  inland  river. 

Whence  the  fleets  of  iron  have  fled. 

Where  the  blades  of  the  grave-grass  quiver. 
Asleep  are  the  ranks  of  the  dead ; 


276    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  one,  the  Blue; 

Under  the  other,  the  Gray. 

From  the  silence  of  sorrowful  hours 

The  desolate  mourners  go, 
Lovingly  laden  with  flowers 

Alike  for  the  friend  and  the  foe; 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  roses,  the  Blue; 
Under  the  lilies,  the  Gray. 

Sadly,  but  not  with  upbraiding, 
The  generous  deed  was  done; 
In  the  storm  of  the  years  that  are  fading 
No  braver  battle  was  won ; 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  j  udgment  day ; 
Under  the  blossoms,  the  Blue ; 
Under  the  garlands,  the  Gray. 

No  more  shall  the  war-cry  sever, 

Or  the  winding  rivers  be  red ; 
They  banish  our  anger  forever, 

When  they  laurel  the  graves  of  our  dead. 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Love  and  tears  for  the  Blue; 
Tears  and  love  for  the  Gray. 

— FINCH:    The  Blue  and  the  Gray. 

Burly,  dozing  humble-bee, 
Where  thou  art  is  clime  for  me. 
Let  them  sail  for  Porto  Rique, 
Far-off  heats  through  seas  to  seek; 


KMOTION 


277 


I  will  follow  thee  alone, 
Thou  animated  torrid-zone ! 
Zigzag  steerer,  desert  eheerer, 
Let  me  chase  thy  waving  lines; 
Keep  me  nearer,  me  thy  hearer, 
Singing  over  shrubs  and  vines. 

—EMERSON:   The  Ilumlde-Her. 

In  both  the  lyric  and  dramatic  forms  we  live 
imaginatively  the  experience  of  a  character  whose  emo- 
tions must  be  gathered  solely  from  the  text.  The 
emotions  you  have  thus  far  expressed  are  those  of  an 
author,  as  in  lyrics,  or  the  persons  in  a  story  or  drama. 
In  the  following  extracts  the  emotions  to  be  expressed 
are  yours:  that  is,  it  is  the  way  you  feel  about  the 
pictures,  or  the  facts,  or  the  incidents  described — 
your  connotation.  You  are  describing  something  that 
moves  you,  excites  you,  and  the  emotion  manifests 
itself  in  the  voice. 

The  need  of  appreciating  the  strongly  dramatic 
scenes  before  giving  them  vocally  is  self-evident,  and 
most  students,  when  they  once  become  interested,  do 
not  find  much  difficulty  in  the  oral  rendition.  A 
severer  test  of  a  reader  (and  one,  by  the  way,  the 
very  severity  of  which  the  average  person  doesn't 
appreciate)  is  in  the  expression  of  narration  and 
description;  and  it  is  in  this  realm  that  there  is  room 
for  the  greatest  improvement.  Sometimes  narration 
and  description  are  full  of  impassioned  passages,  and 
these  must  be  treated  with  even  more  care  than  the 
scenes  in  dramas  and  novels.  It  is  in  the  quieter 
moods  that  there  is  most  need  for  the  student  to  keep 


278    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

his  reading  interesting.  Animated  reading  is  not 
necessarily  emotional,  but  it  may  have  great  emotion 
in  it,  in  which  case  the  expression  will  manifest  it.  In 
the  non-dramatic  passages  the  reader  should  have  in 
mind  as  he  addresses  his  audience,  "This  is  very  inter- 
esting ;  I  like  it,  you  will  like  it ;  listen  to  it,"  and  that 
will  vitalize  the  expression. 

Victor  Hugo  is  describing  the  battle  of  Waterloo 
and  has  come  to  that  moment  when  Napoleon  orders 
General  Ney  and  his  cavalry  to  charge  the  English, 
who  are  holding  a  plateau  in  the  middle  of  the  battle- 
field. If  you  read  this  wonderful  description  care- 
fully and  make  some  effort  to  see  the  pictures,  your 
imagination  cannot  fail  to  react  upon  your  voice, 
which  is  sure  to  express  the  excitement,  the  awe,  and 
the  tragic  grandeur  you  feel  in  the  depiction  of  this 
crucial  moment  in  the  last  great  battle  of  Napoleon. 

Napoleon  was  one  of  those  geniuses  who  rule  the 
thunder.  He  had  found  his  thunderbolt.  He  ordered 
Milhaud's  cuirassiers  to  carry  the  plateau  of  Mont 
Saint-Jean.  They  were  three  thousand,  five  hundred. 
They  formed  a  line  of  half  a  mile.  They  were  gigantic 
men  on  colossal  horses.  They  were  twenty-six  squad- 
rons, and  they  had  behind  them  a  strong  support.  Aide- 
de-camp  Bernard  brought  them  the  Emperor's  order. 
Ney  drew  his  sword  and  placed  himself  at  their  head. 
The  enormous  squadrons  began  to  move.  Then  was  seen 
a  fearful  sight.  All  this  cavalry,  with  sabers  drawn, 
banners  waving,  and  trumpets  sounding,  formed  in  col- 
umn by  division,  descended  with  even  movement  and  as 
one  man — with  the  precision  of  a  bronze  battering-ram 
opening  a  breach. 

Behind  the  crest  of  the  plateau,  under  cover  of  the 


EMOTION  279 

masked  battery,  the  English  infantry  formed  in  thirteen 
squares,  with  musket  to  the  shoulder,  and  eye  upon 
sights,  waiting,  calm,  silent,  and  immovable.  They 
could  not  see  the  cuirassiers,  and  the  cuirassiers  could 
not  see  them.  They  heard  the  increasing  sound  of  three 
thousand  horses,  the  alternate  and  measured  striking  of 
their  hoofs  at  full  trot,  the  rattling  of  the  cuirasses,  the 
clinking  of  the  sabers,  and  a  sort  of  fierce  roar  of  the 
coming  host.  There  was  a  moment  of  fearful  silence; 
then,  suddenly,  a  long  line  of  raised  arms  brandishing 
sabers  appeared  above  the  crest,  with  casques,  trumpets, 
and  standards,  and  three  thousand  faces,  with  gray 
mustaches,  crying,  "Vive  1'Empereur!" 

All  at  once,  tragic  to  relate,  at  the  left  of  the  English, 
and  on  our  right,  the  head  of  the  column  of  cuirassiers 
reared  with  a  frightful  clamor.  Arrived  at  the  culmi- 
nating point  of  the  crest,  unmanageable,  full  of  fury, 
and  bent  upon  the  extermination  of  the  squares  and 
cannons,  the  cuirassiers  saw  between  them  and  the  Eng- 
lish a  ditch — a  grave.  It  was  the  sunken  road  of  Ohain. 
It  was  a  frightful  moment.  There  was  the  ravine,  un- 
looked  for,  yawning  at  the  very  feet  of  the  horses,  two 
fathoms  deep  between  its  double  slopes.  The  second 
rank  pushed  in  the  first,  the  third  pushed  in  the  second ; 
the  horses  reared,  threw  themselves  over,  fell  upon  their 
backs,  and  struggled  with  their  feet  in  the  air,  piling 
up  and  overturning  their  riders;  no  power  to  retreat. 
The  whole  column  was  nothing  but  a  projectile.  The 
force  acquired  to  crush  the  English  crushed  the  French. 

The  inexorable  ravine  could  not  yield  until  it  was 
filled;  riders  and  horses  rolled  together  pellmell,  grind- 
ing each  other,  making  common  flesh  in  this  dreadful 
gulf;  and  when  the  grave  was  full  of  living  men,  the 
rest  rode  over  them  and  passed  on.  Almost  a  third  of 
Dubois'  brigade  sank  into  this  abyss.  Here  the  loss  of 
the  battle  began. — HUGO:  Le»  Miserable*. 


280    INTEEPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

He  spoke,  and  Rustum  answer'd  not,  but  hurl'd 
His  spear;  down  from  the  shoulder,  down  it  came, 
As  on  some  partridge  in  the  corn  a  hawk, 
That  long  has  tower'd  in  the  airy  clouds, 
Drops  like  a  plummet;   Sohrab  saw  it  come, 
And  sprang  aside,  quick  as  a  flash;  the  spear 
Hiss'd,  and  went  quivering  down  into  the  sand, 
Which  it  sent  flying  wide; — then  Sohrab  threw 
In  turn,  and  full  struck  Rustum's  shield ;  sharp  rang, 
The  iron  plates  rang  sharp,  but  turn'd  the  spear. 
And  Rustum  seized  his  club,  which  none  but  he 

Could  wield; and  struck 

One  stroke ;  but  again  Sohrab  sprang  aside, 
Lithe  as  the  glancing  snake,  and  the  club  came 
Thundering  to  earth,  and  leapt  from  Rustum's  hand. 
And  Rustum  follow'd  his  own  blow,  and  fell 
To  his  knees,  and  with  his  fingers  clutch'd  the  sand. 
— ARNOLD  :    Sohrab  and  Rustum. 

Away  then  they  dashed,  througli  thick  and  thin, 
stones  flying  and  sparks  flashing  at  every  bound.  An 
opening  in  the  trees  now  cheered  him  with  the  hopes 
that  the  church  bridge  was  at  hand.  The  wavering 
reflection  of  a  silver  star  in  the  bosom  of  the  brook  told 
him  that  he  was  not  mistaken.  "If  I  can  but  reach  that 
bridge,"  thought  Ichabod,  "I  am  safe."  Just  then  he 
heard  the  black  steed  panting  and  blowing  close  behind 
him ;  he  even  fancied  that  he  felt  his  hot  breath.  An- 
other convulsive  kick  in  the  ribs,  and  old  Gunpowder 
sprang  upon  the  bridge;  he  thundered  over  the  re- 
sounding planks;  he  gained  the  opposite  side;  and  now 
Ichabod  cast  a  look  behind  to  see  if  his  pursuer  should 
vanish,  according  to  rule,  in  a  flash  of  fire  and  brim- 
stone. Just  then  he  saw  the  goblin  rising  in  his  stirrups, 
and  in  the  very  act  of  hurling  his  head  at  him.  Ichabod 
endeavored  to  dodge  the  horrible  missile,  but  too  late. 
It  encountered  his  cranium  with  a  tremendous  crash. 


EMOTION  281 

He  was  tumbled  headlong  into  the  dust,  and  Gunpowder, 
the  black  steed,  and  the  goblin  rider  passed  by  like  a 
whirlwind. — IRVING:  The  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow. 

In  the  bright  October  morning  Savoy's  duke  had  left  his 
bride. 

From  the  castle,  past  the  drawbridge,  flow'd  the  hunters' 
merry  tide. 

Steeds  are  neighing,  gallants  glittering,  gay  her  smiling 
lord  to  greet, 

From  her  mullion'd  chamber-casement  smiles  the  Duch- 
ess Marguerite. 

From  Vienna,  by  the  Danube,  here  she  came,  a  bride, 
in  spring, 

Now  the  autumn  crisps  the  forest;  hunters  gather,  bugles 
ring. 

Hounds  are  pulling,  prickers  swearing,  horses  fret,  and 
boar-spears  glance. 

Off, — they  sweep  the  marshy  forests,  westward  on  the 
side  of  France. 

Hark !  the  game's  on  foot ;  they  scatter, — down  the 
forest-ridings  lone, 

Furious,  single  horsemen  gallop.  Hark !  a  shout, — a 
crash, — a  groan. 

Pale  and  breathless  came  the  hunters — on  the  turf  dead 
lies  the  boar. 

Ah!  the  duke  lies  stretched  beside  him  senseless,  wel- 
tering in  his  gore. 

In  the  dull  October  evening,  down  the  leaf-strewn  forest- 
road, 

To  the  castle,  past  the  drawbridge,  came  the  hunters 
with  their  load. 

In  the  hall,  with  sconces  blazing,  ladies  waiting  round 
her  seat, 

Clothed  in  smiles,  beneath  the  dais  sate  the  Duchess 
Marguerite. 


282    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Hark!    below  the  gates  unbarring,  tramp  of  men,  and 
quick  commands. 

'  'Tis    my   lord    come    back    from    hunting," — and    the 
duchess  claps  her  hands. 

Slow  and  tired  came  the  hunters ;  stopp'd  in  darkness  in 
the  court. 

"Ho!  this  way,  ye  laggard  hunters.    To  the  hall.    What 
sport !   what  sport !" 

Slow  they  entered  with  their  master;    in  the  hall  they 
laid  him  down. 

On  his  coat  were  leaves  and  blood-stains,  on  his  brow  an 
angry  frown. 

Dead  her  princely  youthful  husband  lay  before  his  youth- 
ful wife, 

Bloody  'neath  the  flaring  sconces:    and  the  sight  froze 
all  her  life. 

In  Vienna,  by  the  Danube,  kings  hold  revel,  gallants 
meet. 

Gay  of   old   amid   the   gayest   was   the   Duchess   Mar- 
guerite. 

In  Vienna,  by  the  Danube,  feast  and  dance  her  youth 
beguiled : 

Till  that  hour  she  never  sorrow'd,  but  from  then  she 
never  smiled. 

— ARNOLD:    The  Church  of  Brou. 

REVIEW  EXERCISES 

There  is  need  for  less  illustrative  matter  in  this 
chapter  than  in  most  of  the  others.  Virtually  all  of 
the  passages  in  the  book  are  in  varying  degrees  emo- 
tional: the  plays  you  are  studying  have  much  ma- 
terial, and  finally,  if  further  practice  is  needed,  it  can 
easily  be  got  from  the  poems  and  novels  in  your 
course  in  literature.  To  serve,  however,  as  models, 


EMOTION  283 

some  review  exercises  are  given  illustrating  a  varietv 
of  emotions,  and  several  extracts  in  which  the  author 
directly  or  indirectly  suggests  the  emotion. 

It  is  not  enough  to  know  that  literature  is  primarily 
ian  appeal  to  the  emotions  through  the  imagination; 
that  the  purpose  of  literature  is  to  arouse  emotion  in 
the  reader;  that  an  author  frequently  describes  with 
great  exactitude  and  detail  the  feelings  of  his  char- 
acters. One  must  himself,  in  kind  at  least,  if  not  in 
futtest  degree,  experience  imaginatively  the  same 
emotions  or  fail  m  whole  or  in  part  to  receive  from 
the  author  all  that  he  has  to  give  us.  It  is  of  no  avail 
to  deny  this,  for  only  those  who  can  and  do  enter 
sympathetically  into  the  mood  of  the  author  or  the 
character  can  pass  judgment  in  the  matter.  One 
never  fully  appreciates  the  greatness  in  character 
delineation  of  any  author,  his  insight  into  the  mind 
and  feelings  of  his  creations,  until  in  some  degree  he 
lives  imaginatively  in  those  characters.  Nor  is  it  suffi- 
cient to  acquiesce  in  the  truth  of  this  statement.  If 
you  would  develop  your  appreciation  of  the  dramatic, 
narrative,  descriptive,  and  lyrical  elements  of  litera- 
ture, make  it  a  habit  to  read  aloud  daily  such  passages 
as  we  have  been  studying.  And  for  those  who  have 
had  and  can  get  no  vocal  training,  let  it  be  an  encour- 
agement to  know  that  such  reading  as  I  have  been 
urging  is  of  more  value  than  a  whole  course  of 
mechanical  drills.  The  illustrations  that  follow  are  as 
good  as  any  on  which  to  begin. 

The  first  passage,  taken  from  Ruskin's  King  of  the 
Golden  River,  illustrates  almost  every  phase  of  the 


284    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

emotional  problem.  I  am  sure,  in  the  light  of  what  we 
have  learned,  it  will  prove  a  valuable  study,  even  if  we 
have  had  this  charming  story  in  the  grades. 

"Hollo!"  said  the  little  gentleman,  "that's  not  the 
way  to  answer  the  door.  I'm  wet,  let  me  in." 

To  do  the  little  gentleman  justice,  he  was  wet.  From 
the  ends  of  his  mustaches  the  water  was  running  into 
his  waistcoat-pockets,  and  out  again  like  a  mill-stream. 

"I  beg  pardon,  sir,"  said  Gluck,  "I'm  very  sorry,  but 
I  really  can't." 

"Can't  what?"  said  the  old  gentleman. 

"I  can't  let  you  in,  sir, — I  can't  indeed;  my  brothers 
would  beat  me  to  death,  sir,  if  I  thought  of  such  a  thing. 
What  do  you  want,  sir?" 

"Want?"  said  the  old  gentleman,  petulantly.  "I  want 
fire  and  shelter.  Let  me  in,  I  say ;  I  only  want  to  warm 
myself." 

"He  does  look  very  wet,"  said  little  Gluck;  "I'll  just 
let  him  in  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour." 

Then  the  old  gentleman  walked  into  the  kitchen,  and 
sat  himself  down  on  the  hob. 

"You'll  soon  dry  there,  sir,"  said  Gluck,  and  sat  down 
again  to  turn  the  mutton.  But  the  old  gentleman  did  not 
dry  there,  but  went  on  drip,  drip,  dripping  among  the 
cinders,  and  the  fire  fizzed  and  sputtered,  and  began  to 
look  very  black  and  uncomfortable;  never  was  such  a 
cloak;  every  fold  in  it  ran  like  a  gutter. 

"I  beg  pardon,  sir,"  said  Gluck;  "mayn't  I  take  your 
cloak?" 

"No,  thank  you,"  said  the  old  gentleman. 

"Your  cap,  sir?" 

"I'm  all  right,  thank  you,"  said  the  old  gentleman, 
gruffly. 

"But — sir — I'm  very  sorry,"  said  Gluck,  hesitatingly; 
"but — really,  sir — you're  putting  the  fire  out." 


EMOTION  285 

"It'll  take  longer  to  do  the  mutton  then,"  replied  the 
visitor,  dryly.     "Can't  you  give  me  a  little  hit?" 
"Impossihle,  sir,"  said  Gluck. 

"I'm  very  hungry;  I've  had  nothing  to  eat  yesterday, 
nor  today." 

He  spoke  in  so  very  melancholy  a  tone  that  it  quit* 
melted  Gluck's  heart.  "They  promised  me  one  slier 
today,  sir,"  said  he;  "I  can  give  you  that,  hut  not  a  hit 
more." 

"That's  a  good  boy,"  said  the  old  gentleman  aguin. 

Then  Gluck  sharpened  a  knife.  "I  don't  care  if  I  do 
get  beaten  for  it,"  thought  he.  Just  as  he  had  cut  a 
large  slice  out  of  the  mutton,  there  came  a  tremendous 
rap  at  the  door.  Gluck  ran  to  open  it. 

"What  did  you  keep  us  waiting  in  the  rain  for?"  said 
Schwartz,  as  he  walked  in,  throwing  his  umbrella  in 
Gluck's  face. 

"Ay!  what  for,  indeed,  you  little  vagabond?"  said 
Hans,  administering  an  educational  box  on  the  ear,  as 
he  followed  his  brother  into  the  kitchen. 

"Bless  my  soul!"  said  Schwartz,  when  he  opened  the 
door. 

"Amen,"  said  the  little  gentleman,  who  had  taken  his 
cap  off  and  was  bowing  with  the  utmost  possible  velocity. 

"Who's  that?"  said  Schwartz,  catching  up  a  rolling- 
pin,  and  turning  to  Gluck  with  a  fierce  frown. 

"I  don't  know,  indeed,  brother,"  said  Gluck.  in  great 
terror. 

"How  did  he  get  in?"  roared  Schwartz. 

"My  dear  brother,"  said  Gluck,  deprecatingly,  "he 
was  so  very  wet!" 

"Who  are  you,  sir?"  demanded  Schwartz,  turning 
upon  the  stranger. 

"What's  your  business?"  snarled  Hans. 

"I'm  a  poor  old  man,  sir,"  the  little  gentleman  began 


286    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

very  modestly,  "and  I  saw  your  fire  through  the  window, 
and  begged  shelter  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour." 

"Have  the  goodness  to  walk  out  again,  then,"  said 
Schwartz.  "We've  quite  enough  water  in  our  kitchen, 
without  making  it  a  drying-house." 

"It  is  a  cold  day  to  turn  an  old  man  out  in,  sir;  look 
at  my  gray  hairs." 

"Ay!"  said  Hans,  "there  are  enough  of  them  to  keep 
you  warm.  Walk!" 

"I'm  very,  very  hungry,  sir;  couldn't  you  spare  me 
a  bit  of  bread  before  I  go?" 

"Bread,  indeed !"  said  Schwartz ;  "do  you  suppose 
we've  nothing  to  do  with  our  bread  but  to  give  it  to  such 
red-nosed  fellows  as  you?" 

"Why  don't  you  sell  your  feather?"  said  Hans,  sneer- 
ingly.  "Out  with  you." 

"A  little  bit,"  said  the  old  gentleman. 

"Be  off !"  said  Schwartz. 

"Pray,  gentlemen." 

"Off,  and  be  hanged!"  cried  Hans,  seizing  him  by  the 
collar. — RUSKIN  :  The  King  of  the  Golden  River. 

Of  course  the  emotion  can,  in  most  of  the  cases  we 
have  had,  be  gathered  from  the  words  of  the  speak- 
ers; but  always  remember  that  the  author  sometimes 
suggests  emotion  by  describing  the  tone  of  voice 
(harshly,  shrilly,  tenderly)  ;  sometimes  by  describing 
the  facial  expression,  the  attitude,  or  some  significant 
gesture  of  the  body ;  and  finally,  there  are  many  cases 
in  which  he  combines  several  methods,  as  in  the  next 
excerpts. 

Longfellow's  King  Robert  of  Sicily  has  a  number 
of  passages  which  illuminate  our  theme.  The  king  is 


EMOTION  287 

very  proud  and  boastful.      He  hears  the  monks  at 
vespers  chanting  the  Magnificat: 

"He  has  put  down  the  mighty  from  their  *eai, 
And  has  exalted  them  of  low  degree." 
Thereat  King  Robert  muttered  scornfully, 
'  'Tis  well  that  such  seditious  words  are  sung 
Only  by  priests  and  in  the  Latin  tongue; 
For  unto  priests  and  people  be  it  known, 
There  is  no  power  can  push  me  from  my  throne !" 
And  leaning  back,  he  yawned  and  fell  asleep, 
Lulled  by  the  chant  monotonous  and  deep. 

When  he  awakes  he  finds  himself  alone  at  night, 
locked  within  the  clmrch.  The  sexton  comes,  asking 
"Who  is  there?" 

Half  choked  with  rage,  King  Robert  fiercely  said, 
"Open:  'tis  I  the  King!    Art  thou  afraid?" 

Robert  finally  comes  to  his  own  palace  and  sees 
upon  the  throne  an  angel  who  in  every  way  resembles 
himself.  Robert,  not  knowing  it  is  an  angel,  believes 
the  stranger  to  be  an  impostor;  and  then  the  poem 
goes  on: 

A  moment  speechless,  motionless,  amazed, 
The  throneless  monarch  on  the  Angel  gazed, 
Who  met  his  look  of  anger  and  surprise 
With  the  divine  compassion  of  his  eyes; 
Then  said,  "Who  art  thou  ?  and  why  com'st  thou 

here?" 

To  which  King  Robert  answered,  with  a  sneer, 
"I  am  the  King,  and  come  to  claim  my  own 
From  an  impostor,  who  usurps  my  throne!" 
And  suddenly,  at  these  audacious  words. 


288    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Up  sprang  the  angry  guests,  and  drew  their  swords ; 
The  Angel  answered,  with  unruffled  brow., 
"Nay,  not  the  King,  but  the  King's  Jester;  thou 
Henceforth  shall  wear  the  bells  and  scalloped  cape, 
And  for  thy  counselor  shalt  lead  an  ape; 
Thou  shalt  obey  my  servants  when  they  call, 
And  wait  upon  my  henchmen  in  the  hall !" 

We  have  had  no  passage  quite  like  this  before.  Ob- 
serve "the  divine  compassion  of  his  eyes"  and  enter 
imaginatively  into  the  spirit  of  those  words  as  you 
question  Robert.  A  similar  bit  of  suggestive  descrip- 
tion is  in  the  phrase  "with  unruffled  brow."  You  see 
our  tendency  would  be  to  address  Robert  in  tones  of 
anger  and  scorn.  But  note  how  much  more  imagina- 
tion there  is  in  Longfellow's  conception  of  the  Angel's 
attitude  toward  King  Robert. 

The  king  is  now  a  court  jester,  but  his  pride  not  in 
the  least  subdued.  As  you  read  the  next  excerpt  do 
not  overlook  the  suggestion  in  the  last  two  lines : 

And  when  the  angel  met  him  on  his  way. 

And  half  in  earnest,  half  in  jest,  would  say, 

Sternly,  though  tenderly,  that  he  might  feel 

The  velvet  scabbard  held  a  sword  of  steel, 

"Art  thou  the  King?"  the  passion  of  his  woe 

Burst  from  him  in  resistless  overflow, 

And,  lifting  high  his  forehead,  he  would  fling 

The  haughty  answer  back,  "I  am,  I  am  the  King!" 

At  last,  after  three  years  in  this  ignominious  posi- 
tion, Robert  repents  and  accepts  his  punishment  as 
the  just  penalty  of  his  sin.  He  is  alone  within  his 
palace,  and  the  Angel  asks  him  again  the  question  to 


EMOTION  289 

which  up  to  this  time  Robert  had  invariably  answered 
with  stubborn  pride : 

And  when  they  were  alone,  the  Angel  said, 
"Art  thou  the  King?"    Then,  bowing  down  his  head, 
King  Robert  crossed  both  hands  upon  his  breast, 
And  meekly  answered  him:  "Thou  knowest  best! 
My  sins  as  scarlet  are;  let  me  go  hence, 
And  in  some  cloister's  school  of  penitence, 
Across  those  stones  that  pave  the  way  to  heaven, 
Walk  barefoot  till  my  guilty  soul  be  shriven." 

In  all  there  have  not  been  more  than  fifteen  or 
twenty  words  describing  King  Robert's  and  the 
Angel's  feelings,  and  yet  how  much  these  few  phrases 
have  revealed! 

Tom  followed  Maggie  up  stairs  into  her  mother's  room, 
and  saw  her  go  at  once  to  a  drawer,  from  which  she 
took  out  a  large  pair  of  scissors. 

"What  are  they  for,  Maggie?"  said  Tom,  feeling  his 
curiosity  awakened. 

Maggie  answered  by  seizing  her  front  locks  and  cut- 
ting them  straight  across  the  middle  of  her  forehead. 

"Oh,  my  buttons,  Maggie,  you'll  catch  it!"  exclaimed 
Tom;  "you'd  better  not  cut  any  more  off." 

Snip !  went  the  great  scissors  again. 

"Here,  Tom,  cut  it  behind  for  me,"  said  Maggie,  ex- 
cited by  her  own  daring,  and  anxious  to  finish  the  deed. 

"You'll  catch  it,  you  know,"  said  Tom,  nodding  his 
head  in  an  admonitory  manner,  and  hesitating  a  little 
as  he  took  the  scissors. 

"Never  mind — make  haste!"  said  Maggie,  giving  a 
little  stamp  with  her  foot.  Her  cheeks  were  quite  flushed. 

One  delicious  grinding  snip,  and  then  another  and  an- 
other, and  Maggie  stood  cropped  in  a  jagged,  uneven 


290    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

manner,  but  with  a  sense  of  clearness  and  freedom,  as  if 
she  had  emerged  from  a  wood  into  the  open  plain. 

"Oh,  Maggie,"  said  Tom,  jumping  around  her,  and 
slapping  his  knees  as  he  laughed.  "Oh,  my  buttons, 
what  a  queer  thing  you  look!  Look  at  yourself  in  the 
glass:  you  look  like  the  idiot  we  throw  our  nutshells  to 
at  school." 


"Heyday !  what  little  gell's  this — why,  I  don't  know 
her.  Is  it  some  little  gell  you've  picked  up  in  the  road, 
Kezia?" 

"Why,  she's  gone  and  cut  her  hair  herself,"  said  Mr. 
Tulliver  in  an  undertone  to  Mr.  Deane,  laughing  with 
much  enjoyment. 

"Fie,  for  shame!"  said  Aunt  Glegg,  in  her  loudest, 
severest  tone  of  reproof.  "Little  gells  as  cut  their  own 
hair  should  be  whipped  and  fed  on  bread  and  water." 

"Ay,  ay,"  said  Uncle  Glegg,  meaning  to  give  a  play- 
ful turn  to  this  denunciation,  "she  must  be  sent  to  jail,  I 
think." 

"She's  more  like  a  gipsy  nor  ever,"  said  Aunt  Pullet, 
in  a  pitying  tone ;  "it's  very  bad  luck,  sister,  as  the  gell 
should  be  so  brown.  I  doubt  it'll  stand  in  her  way  i' 
life  to  be  so  brown." 

"She's  a  naughty  child,  as'll  break  her  mother's  heart," 
said  Mrs.  Tulliver,  with  the  tears  in  her  eyes. — ELIOT: 
The  Mill  on  the  Floss. 

It  is  Cardinal  Wolsey,  after  his  fall  from  power, 
who  speaks  in  the  following  passage  from  King 
Henry  VIII: 

Farewell !  a  long  farewell,  to  all  my  greatness ! 
This  is  the  state  of  man :  to-day  he  puts  forth 
The  tender  leaves  of  hope;  to-morrow  blossoms, 
And  bears  his  blushing  honours  thick  upon  him ; 


EMOTION  291 

The  third  day  comes  a  frost,  a  killing  frost, 
And,  when  he  thinks,  good  easy  man,  full  surely 
His  greatness  is  a-ripening,  nips  his  root, 
And  then  he  falls,  as  I  do.    I  have  ventured, 
Like  little  wanton  boys  that  swim  on  bladders, 
This  many  summers  in  a  sea  of  glory, 
But  far  beyond  my  depth:  my  high-blown  pride 
At  length  broke  under  me  and  now  has  left  me, 
Weary  and  old  with  service,  to  the  mercy 
Of  a  rude  stream,  that  must  for  ever  hide  me. 
Vain  pomp  and  glory  of  this  world,  I  hate  ye: 
I  feel  my  heart  new  open'd.    O,  how  wretched 
Is  that  poor  man  that  hangs  on  princes'  favours ! 
There  is,  betwixt  that  smile  we  would  aspire  to, 
That  sweet  aspect  of  princes,  and  their  ruin, 
More  pangs  and  fears  than  wars  or  women  have: 
And  when  he  falls,  he  falls  like  Lucifer, 
Never  to  hope  again. 

Many  years  after  the  scene  we  have  already  studied 
from  The  Mill  on  the  Floss,  Tom  has  a  quarrel  with 
Maggie's  lover: 

"Do  you  call  this  acting  the  part  of  a  man,  sir?" 
Tom  said,  in  a  voice  of  harsh  scorn. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  answered  Philip,  haughtily. 

"Mean?  Stand  farther  from  me,  lest  I  should  lay 
hands  on  you,  and  I'll  tell  you  what  I  mean.  I  mean, 
taking  advantage  of  a  young  girl's  foolishness  and  igno- 
rance to  get  her  to  have  secret  meetings  with  you.  I 
mean,  daring  to  trifle  with  the  respectability  of  a  family 
that  has  a  good  and  honest  name  to  support." 

"I  deny  that,"  interrupted  Philip,  impetuously.  "I 
could  never  trifle  with  anything  that  affected  your  sister's 
happiness.  She  is  dearer  to  me  than  she  is  to  you;  I 
honor  her  more  than  you  can  ever  honor  her;  I  would 
give  up  my  life  to  her." 


292    INTERPBETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

"Don't  talk  high-flown  nonsense  to  me,  sir !  Do  you 
mean  to  pretend  that  you  didn't  know  it  would  be  in- 
jurious to  her  to  meet  you  here  week  after  week?  Do 
you  pretend  you  had  any  right  to  make  professions  of 
love  to  her,  even  if  you  had  been  a  fit  husband  for  her, 
when  neither  her  father  nor  your  father  would  ever  con- 
sent to  a  marriage  between  you?  And  you — you  to  try 
and  worm  yourself  into  the  affections  of  a  handsome  girl 
who  is  not  eighteen,  and  has  been  shut  out  from  the 
world  by  her  father's  misfortunes !  That's  your  crooked 
notion  of  honor,  is  it?  I  call  it  base  treachery." 

"It  is  manly  of  you  to  talk  in  this  way  to  me,"  said 
Philip,  bitterly,  his  whole  frame  shaken  by  violent  emo- 
tions. "You  are  incapable  of  even  understanding  what  I 
feel  for  your  sister." 

"I  should  be  very  sorry  to  understand  your  feelings. 
If  you  dare  to  come  near  her  again,  or  to  write  to  her, 
your  puny,  miserable  body  shall  not  protect  you.  I'll 
thrash  you — I'll  hold  you  up  to  public  scorn.  Who 
wouldn't  laugh  at  the  idea  of  your  turning  lover  to  a  fine 
girl?" 

"Tom,  I  will  not  bear  it,"  Maggie  burst  out,  in  a  con- 
vulsed voice.  "It  was  for  my  father's  sake,  Philip," 
continued  Maggie,  imploringly.  "Tom  threatens  to  tell 
my  father — and  he  couldn't  bear  it  now :  I  have  promised 
that  we  will  not  have  any  intercourse  without  my 
brother's  knowledge." 

"And  I'll  save  her  from  throwing  herself  away  on 
you.  Come  away,  Maggie."  And  seizing  Maggie's  wrist 
they  walked  away  in  silence. 

We  have  seen  old  Scrooge  annoyed  by  his  cheery 
nephew  who  came  to  him  on  Christmas  Eve;  but  he 
is  converted  through  a  dream  that  reveals  him  to  him- 
self in  all  his  miserable  selfishness.  Let  your  expres- 


EMOTION  293 

sion  show  the  change  in  him  as  it  manifests  itself  in 
the  following  lines: 

"I  don't  know  what  to  do!"  cried  Scrooge,  laughing 
and  crying  in  the  same  breath,  and  making  a  perfect 
Laocoon  of  himself  with  his  stockings.  "I  am  as  light 
as  a  feather,  I  am  as  happy  as  an  angel,  I  am  as  merry 
as  a  schoolboy,  I  am  as  giddy  as  a  drunken  man.  A 
merry  Christmas  to  everybody !  A  happy  New  Year 
to  all  the  world!  Hallo  here!  Whoop!  Hallo!" 

"I  don't  know  what  day  of  the  month 

it  is.  I  don't  know  how  long  I  have  been  among  the 
Spirits.  I  don't  know  anything.  I'm  quite  a  baby. 
Never  mind.  I  don't  care.  I'd  rather  be  a  baby. 
Hallo!  Whoop!  Hallo  here!" 

Running  to  the  window,  he  opened  it,  and  put  out  his 
head.  No  fog,  no  mist;  clear,  bright,  jovial,  stirring, 
cold ;  cold,  piping  for  the  blood  to  dance  to ;  golden  sun- 
light; heavenly  sky;  sweet,  fresh  air;  merry  bells.  Oh, 
glorious,  glorious!  Glorious! — DICKENS:  A  Christmas 
Carol. 

Macduff.     O    horror,    horror,    horror!      Tongue    nor 

heart 
Cannot  conceive  nor  name  thee ! 

Macbeth.  What's  the  matter? 

Macduff.     Confusion  now  hath  made  his  masterpiece! 
Most  sacrilegious  murder  hath  broke  ope 
The  Lord's  anointed  temple,  and  stole  thence 
The  life  o'  the  building! 

Macbeth.  What  is  't  you  say?  the  life? 

Lennox.     Mean  you  his  maj  esty  ? 

Macduff.     Approach  the  chamber,  and  destroy  your 

sight 

With  a  new  Gorgon :  do  not  bid  me  speak ; 
See,  and  then  speak  yourselves. 

[Exeunt  Macbeth  and  Lennox. 


294    INTEEPBETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

Awake,  awake ! 

Ring  the  alarum-bell.    Murder  and  treason ! 
Banquo  and  Donalbain !  Malcolm !  awake ! 
Shake  off  this  downy  sleep,  death's  counterfeit, 
And  look  on  death  itself !  up,  up,  and  see 
The  great  doom's  image !  Malcolm !  Banquo ! 
As  from  your  graves  rise  up,  and  walk  like  sprites, 
To  countenance  this  horror !    Ring  the  bell. 

— Macbeth,  II,  iii. 

The  following  poems  will  afford  practice  in  the 
reading  of  verse  in  which  the  emotion  and  sentiment 
are  well  within  the  experience  of  the  average  student. 

A  clever,  bright,  animated  bit  of  fun  is  the  follow- 
ing poem  by  an  American  poet: 

EARLY  RISING 

JOHN  G.  SAXE 

"Now  blessing  light  on  him  that  first  invented  sleep!  it 
covers  a  man  all  over,  thoughts  and  all,  like  a  cloak;  it  is 
meat  for  the  hungry,  drink  for  the  thirsty,  heat  for  the  cold, 
and  cold  for  the  hot." — CERVANTES:  Don  Quixote. 

"God  bless  the  man  who  first  invented  sleep !" 
So  Sancho  Panza  said,  and  so  say  I; 

And  bless  him,  also,  that  he  didn't  keep 
His  great  discovery  to  himself,  nor  try 

To  make  it — as  the  lucky  fellow  might — 

A  close  monopoly  by  patent- right ! 

Yes — bless  the  man  who  first  invented  sleep 
(I  really  can't  avoid  the  iteration) ; 

But  blast  the  man  with  curses  loud  and  deep, 
Whate'er  the  rascal's  name,  or  age,  or  station, 

Who  first  invented,  and  went  round  advising, 

That  artificial  cut-off — Early  Rising ! 


\ 


EMOTION  295 

"Rise  with  the  lark,  and  with  the  lark  to  bed," 
Observes  some  solemn,  sentimental  owl; 

Maxims  like  these  are  very  cheaply  said; 
But,  ere  you  make  yourself  a  fool  or  fowl, 

Pray,  just  inquire  about  his  rise  and  fall, 

And  whether  larks  have  any  beds  at  all ! 

The  time  for  honest  folks  to  be  abed 

Is  in  the  morning,  if  I  reason  right; 
And  he  who  cannot  keep  his  precious  head 

Upon  his  pillow  till  it's  fairly  light, 
And  so  enjoy  his  forty  morning  winks, 
Is  up  to  knavery,  or  else — he  drinks! 

Thomson,  who  sang  about  the  "Seasons,"  said 
It  was  a  glorious  thing  to  rise  in  season ; 

But  then  he  said  it — lying — in  his  bed, 
At  10  A.  M. — the  very  reason 

He  wrote  so  charmingly.     The  simple  fact  is, 

His  preaching  wasn't  sanctioned  by  his  practice. 

'Tis,  doubtless,  well  to  be  sometimes  awake — 
Awake  to  duty,  and  awake  to  truth — 

But  when,  alas !  a  nice  review  we  take 

Of  our  best  deeds  and  days,  we  find,  in  sooth, 

The  hours  that  leave  the  slightest  cause  to  weep 

Are  those  we  passed  in  childhood  or  asleep ! 

'Tis  beautiful  to  leave  the  world  awhile 
For  the  soft  visions  of  the  gentle  night; 

And  free,  at  last,  from  mortal  care  or  guile, 
To  live  as  only  in  the  angels'  sight, 

In  sleep's  sweet  realm  so  cosily  shut  in, 

Where,  at  the  worst,  we  only  dream  of  sin ! 

So  let  us  sleep,  and  give  the  Maker  praise. 

I  like  the  lad  who,  when  his  father  thought 
To  clip  his  morning  nap  by  hackneyed  phrase 

Of  vagrant  worm  by  early  songster  caught, 
Cried,  "Served  him  right!  'tis  not  at  all  surprising; 
The  worm  was  punished,  sir,  for  early  rising." 


296    INTERPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 
ALEXANDER  BREAKING  BUCEPHALUS 

GEORGE    LANSING   TAYLOR 

Philonicus,  the  Thessalian,  brought  to  Philip's  court  a 

steed 
Tall  and  shapely,  powerful,  glorious,  of  Larissa's  noblest 

breed ; 
Flashing  white  from  mane  to  fetlock,  neck  of  thunder, 

eyes  of  flame 
In  his  brow,  the  jet-black  ox-head,  whence  Bucephalus, 

his  name. 

But   the   mighty   charger's    spirit   none   could   manage, 

soothe,  subdue, 
Groom  Thessalian,  Macedonian,  right  and  left  alike  he 

threw ; 
Vain   were   curb-bits,   vain   caresses,   to   assuage   those 

tameless  fires, 
Blazing  in  arterial  lava  from  a  hundred  Centaur  sires. 

"Faugh !  avaunt,  the  furious  monster,"  Philip  cried  in 

vexed  disgust, 
"What  a  brute  to  send  a  monarch !  would  they  see  me 

flung  to  dust? 
Nay!  Begone  with  such  a  fury!  there's  no  dragon 

market  here !" 
At  the  word  young  Alexander  heaved  a  sigh  and  dropped 

a  tear. 

"What  a  matchless  steed  they're  losing!"  cried  the  boy 

in  proud  distress, 
"All  for  lack  of  nerve  to  back  him,  lack  of  boldness  and 

address ! 
Lack  of  soul  to  show  the  master  to  the  dumb  but  knowing 

thing ! 
Lack  of  kingliness  to  match  the  proud  four-footed  king !" 


EMOTION  297 

"What!  rash  youth!   arraign   thy  elders?     Durst  thou 

mount  the  horse  to-day? 
Shouldst  thou   fail,   what  kingly   forfeit   for  thy    folly 

canst  thou  pay?" 
Stern  spake  Philip.     Alexander:  "Yea,  I  dare,  give  but 

the  sign, 
I  will  ride;  or  thirteen  talents  pay  thee,  and  the  steed 

be  mine." 

"Done!"  cried  Philip.    "Mount!"     The  courtiers,  laugh- 
ing, jeered  the  challenged  boy; 
But,  ablaze  with  inspiration,  to  the  steed  he  sprang  with 

joy; 

Boldly  seized  the  foamsprent  bridle,  turned  the  fierce 

eye  to  the  sun, 
Spake   firm   words  of   fearless   kindness,   till   the   fiery 

heart  was  won. 

To   his    back   then   lightly   springing,   on    his   neck   he 

flung  the  rein, 
Gave  him  voice  and  spur,  and  sent  him  free  and  bounding 

o'er  the  plain. 
Like  a  thunderbolt  in  harness  the  great  steed  exultant 

flew, 
Glorying  in  his  new-found  master,  with  brute  instinct 

swift  and  true. 

On  gazed  Philip,  on  gazed  courtiers,  on  gazed  Philla's 
anxious  throng, 

Wondering  at  the  princely  hand  that  tamed  a  steed  so 
fierce  and  strong, 

All  unconscious  of  that  strange  instinct  which  could 
manliness  explore, 

And  a  kingly  lord  accepting,  spurned  all  others  ever- 
more. 


298    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

On,  around  the  royal  stadium  still  the  courser  storms 

the  ground, 
All  his  mighty  thews  rejoicing  as  his  rhythmic  hoof- 

beats  sound! 
Firm,    erect,    the    eager    rider    with    joy    of    conquest 

thrills ; 
Horse    and    man,    a   new-born    Centaur,    one   inspiring 

spirit  fills. 

Down  the  home-stretch  now  careering,  steed  and  rider 

greet  the  king, 
Jeers   are   changed   to   acclamation,    shouts    of   rapture 

roll  and  ring. 
But  with  prescient  tears  the  father  hails  the  triumph 

won! 
"Macedonia  cramps  thy  genius,  seek  a  grander  realm, 

my  son." 

Thus  the  matchless  steed  was  mastered,  born  to  bear 

through  steel  and  flame 
Earth's    world-conquering    hero,    joined    with    him    in 

victory  and  fame, 
Till   beside  the   far   Hydaspes,   worn   with   years,   the 

war-horse  dies, 
And   a  city,   his   memorial,   lifts  its   towers  to   India's 

skies. 


EMOTION  299 

Our  closing  selections  are  chosen  from  some  of  the 
world's  greatest  speakers,  and  will  afford  the  student 
excellent  practice  in  the  delivery  of  straightforward, 
impassioned  oratory: 

A  REMINISCENCE  OF  LEXINGTON 

THEODORE   PARKER 

One  raw  morning  in  spring — it  will  he  eighty  years 
the  19th  day  of  this  month — Hancock  and  Adams,  the 
Moses  and  Aaron  of  that  Great  Deliverance,  were  hoth 
at  Lexington;  they  also  had  "obstructed  an  officer"  with 
brave  words.  British  soldiers,  a  thousand  strong,  came 
to  seize  them  and  carry  them  over  sea  for  trial,  and  so 
nip  the  bud  of  Freedom  auspiciously  opening  in  that  early 
spring.  The  town  militia  came  together  before  daylight, 
"for  training."  A  great,  tall  man,  with  a  large  head  and 
a  high,  wide  brow,  their  captain — one  who  had  "seen 
service" — marshalled  them  into  line,  numbering  but  sev- 
enty, and  bade  "every  man  load  his  piece  with  powder 
and  ball.  I  will  order  the  first  man  shot  that  runs  away," 
said  he,  when  some  faltered.  "Don't  fire  unless  fired 
upon,  but  if  they  want  to  have  a  war,  let  it  begin  here." 

Gentlemen,  you  know  what  followed ;  those  farmers 
and  mechanics  "fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 
A  little  monument  covers  the  bones  of  such  as  before  had 
pledged  their  fortune  and  their  sacred  honor  to  the  Free- 
dom of  America,  and  that  day  gave  it  also  their  lives.  I 
was  born  in  that  little  town,  and  bred  up  amid  the  memo- 
ries of  that  day.  When  a  boy,  my  mother  lifted  me  up, 
one  Sunday,  in  her  religious,  patriotic  arms,  and  held 
me  while  I  read  the  first  monumental  line  I  ever  saw— 
"Sacred  to  Liberty  and  the  Rights  of  Mankind." 

Since  then  I  have  studied  the  memorial  marbles  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  in  many  an  ancient  town;  nay,  on 


300    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

Egyptian  obelisks,  have  read  what  was  written  before  the 
Eternal  roused  up  Moses  to  lead  Israel  out  of  Egypt, 
but  no  chiseled  stone  has  ever  stirred  me  to  such  emotion 
as  these  rustic  names  of  men  who  fell  "In  the  Sacred 
Cause  of  God  and  their  Country." 

Gentlemen,  the  Spirit  of  Liberty,  the  Love  of  Justice, 
was  early  fanned  into  a  flame  in  my  boyish  heart.  That 
monument  covers  the  bones  of  my  own  kinsfolk;  it  was 
their  blood  which  reddened  the  long,  green  grass  at  Lex- 
ington. It  was  my  own  name  which  stands  chiseled  on 
that  stone;  the  tall  Captain  who  marshalled  his  fellow 
farmers  and  mechanics  in  stern  array,  and  spoke  such 
brave  and  dangerous  words  as  opened  the  war  of  Ameri- 
can Independence — the  last  to  leave  the  field — was  my 
father's  father.  I  learned  to  read  out  of  his  Bible,  and 
with  a  musket  he  that  day  captured  from  the  foe,  I  learned 
also  another  religious  lesson,  that  "Rebellion  to  Tyrants 
is  Obedience  to  God."  I  keep  them  both  "Sacred  to  Lib- 
erty and  the  Rights  of  Mankind,"  to  use  them  both  "In 
the  Sacred  Cause  of  God  and  my  Country." 


PLEA  FOE  THE  OLD  SOUTH  CHUECH,  BOSTON 

WENDELL   PHILLIPS 

Boston,  June  4,  1876 

A  hundred  years  ago  our  fathers  announced  this  sub- 
lime declaration,  "God  intended  all  men  to  be  free  and 
equal."  Today,  with  a  territory  that  joins  ocean  to  ocean, 
with  her  millions  of  people,  with  two  wars  behind  her, 
with  the  sublime  achievement  of  having  grappled  with 
the  fearful  disease  that  threatened  her  life,  and  broken 
four  millions  of  fetters,  the  great  Republic  launches  into 
the  second  century  of  her  existence. 

With  how  much  pride,  with  what  a  thrill,  with  what 
tender  and  loyal  reverence,  may  we  not  cherish  the  spot 


EMOTION  301 

where  this  marvelous  enterprise  began,  the  roof  under 
which  its  first  councils  were  held,  where  the  air  still  trem- 
bles and  burns  with  Otis  and  Sam  Adams.  Except  the 
Holy  City,  is  there  any  more  memorable  or  sacred  place, 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  than  the  cradle  of  such  a  change  ? 
Athens  has  her  Acropolis,  but  the  Greek  can  point  to  no 
such  results.  London  has  her  Palace,  and  her  Tower,  and 
her  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  but  the  human  race  owes  her 
no  such  memories.  France  has  spots  marked  by  the  sub- 
limest  devotion,  but  the  Mecca  of  the  man  who  believes 
and  hopes  for  the  human  race  is  not  to  Paris,  it  is  to  the 
seaboard  cities  of  the  great  Republic.  And  when  the  flag 
was  assailed,  and  the  regiments  marched  through  the 
streets,  what  walls  did  they  salute  as  the  regimental  flags 
floated  by  to  Gettysburg  and  Antietam?  These!  Our 
boys  carried  down  to  the  battle-fields  the  memory  of  State 
Street,  of  Faneuil  Hall,  of  the  old  South  Church. 

We  had  signal  prominence  in  those  early  days.  It  was 
on  the  men  of  Boston  that  Lord  North  visited  his  revenge. 
It  was  our  port  that  was  to  be  shut  and  its  commerce 
annihilated.  It  was  Sam  Adams  and  John  Hancock  who 
enjoyed  the  everlasting  reward  of  being  the  only  names 
excepted  from  the  royal  proclamation  of  forgiveness. 
Here,  Sam  Adams,  the  ablest  and  ripest  statesman  God 
gave  to  the  epoch,  forecast  those  measures  which  welded 
thirteen  colonies  into  one  thunderbolt,  and  launched  it  at 
George  the  Third.  Here,  Otis  magnetized  every  boy  into 
a  desperate  rebel. 

The  saving  of  this  landmark  is  the  best  monument  you 
can  erect  to  the  men  of  the  Revolution.  You  spend  thou- 
sands of  dollars  to  put  up  a  statue  of  some  old  hero. 
You  want  your  sons  to  gaze  upon  the  nearest  approach  to 
the  features  of  those  "dead  but  sceptred  sovereigns  who 
still  rule  our  spirits  from  their  urns."  But  what  is  a 
statue  of  Cicero,  compared  to  standing  where  your  voice 
echoes  from  pillar  and  wall  that  actually  heard  his  phil- 


302    INTEEPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

ippics?  Scholars  have  grown  old  and  blind,  striving  to 
put  their  hands  on  the  very  spot  where  bold  men  spoke 
or  brave  men  died.  Shall  we  tear  in  pieces  the  roof  that 
actually  trembled  to  the  words  that  made  us  a  nation? 
It  is  impossible  not  to  believe  that  the  spirits  above 
us  are  permitted  to  know  what  passes  in  this  terres- 
trial sphere,  that  Adams,  and  Warren,  and  Otis  are  today 
bending  over  us  asking  that  the  scene  of  their  immortal 
labors  shall  not  be  desecrated,  or  blotted  from  the  sight 
of  men. 

Consecrate  it  again  to  the  memory  and  worship  of  a 
grateful  people!  Napoleon  turned  aside  his  Simplon 
road  to  save  a  tree  Caesar  had  once  mentioned.  Won't  you 
turn  a  street,  or  spare  a  quarter  of  an  acre,  to  remind  boys 
what  sort  of  men  their  fathers  were  ?  Think  twice  before 
you  touch  these  walls.  We  are  the  world's  trustees.  The 
Old  South  no  more  belongs  to  us,  than  Luther's  or  Hamp- 
den's  or  Brutus'  name  does  to  Germany,  England,  or 
Rome.  Each  and  all  are  held  in  trust  as  torchlight 
guides  and  inspiration  for  any  man  struggling  for  justice 
and  ready  to  die  for  truth.  The  worship  of  great  memo- 
ries, noble  deeds,  sacred  places,  is  one  of  the  keenest 
ripeners  of  such  elements.  Seize  greedily  on  every  chance 
to  save  and  emphasize  them. 


AGAINST  CURTAILING  THE  EIGHT  OF  SUFFRAGE 

VICTOR   HUGO 

Paris,  May  £0,  1850 

Gentlemen — I  address  the  men  who  govern  us  and  say 
to  them:  Go  on,  cut  off  three  millions  of  voters;  cut  off 
eight  out  of  nine,  and  the  result  will  be  the  same  to  you, 
if  it  be  not  more  decisive.  What  you  do  not  cut  off  is  your 
own  faults ;  the  absurdities  of  your  policy  of  compression, 
your  fatal  incapacity,  your  ignorance  of  the  present 


EMOTION  303 

epoch,  the  antipathy  you  feel  for  it,  and  that  it  feels  for 
you;  what  you  will  not  cut  off  is  the  times  which  are 
advancing,  the  hour  now  striking,  the  ascending  movement 
of  ideas,  the  gulf  opening  broader  and  deeper  between 
yourself  and  the  age,  between  the  young  generation  and 
you,  between  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  you,  between  the 
spirit  of  philosophy  and  you. 

What  you  will  not  cut  off  is  this  immense  fact,  that  the 
nation  goes  to  one  side,  while  you  go  to  the  other;  that 
what  for  you  is  the  sunrise  is  for  it  the  sun's  setting;  that 
you  turn  your  backs  to  the  future,  while  this  great  people 
of  France,  its  front  all  radiant  with  light  from  the  rising 
dawn  of  a  new  humanity,  turns  its  back  to  the  past. 

Gentleman,  this  law  is  invalid ;  it  is  null ;  it  is  dead  even 
before  it  exists.  And  do  you  know  what  has  killed  it? 
It  is  that,  when  it  meanly  approaches  to  steal  the  vote 
from  the  pocket  of  the  poor  and  feeble,  it  meets  the  keen, 
terrible  eye  of  the  national  probity,  a  devouring  light,  in 
which  the  work  of  darkness  disappears. 

Yes,  men  who  govern  us,  at  the  bottom  of  every  citi- 
zen's conscience,  the  most  obscure  as  well  as  the  greatest, 
at  the  very  depths  of  the  soul  (I  use  your  own  expres- 
sion) of  the  last  beggar,  the  last  vagabond,  there  is  a 
sentiment,  sublime,  sacred,  insurmountable,  indestruc- 
tible, eternal — the  sentiment  of  right!  This  sentiment, 
which  is  the  every  essence  of  the  human  conscience,  which 
the  Scriptures  call  the  corner-stone  of  justice,  is  the  rock 
on  which  iniquities,  hypocrisies,  bad  laws,  evil  designs, 
bad  governments,  fall,  and  are  shipwrecked.  This  is  the 
hidden,  irresistible  obstacle,  veiled  in  the  recesses  of  every 
mind,  but  ever  present,  ever  active,  on  which  you  will 
always  exhaust  yourselves ;  and  which,  whatever  you  do, 
you  will  never  destroy.  I  warn  you,  your  labor  is  lost; 
you  will  not  extinguish  it,  you  will  not  confuse  it.  Far 
easier  to  drag  the  rock  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  than 
the  sentiment  of  right  from  the  heart  of  the  people ! 


304    INTEBPEETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 
PAUL  EEVEEE'S  BIDE 

GEORGE  WILLIAM   CURTIS 

Concord,  Mass.,  April  19,  1875 

The  first  imposing  armed  movement  against  the  colo- 
nies, on  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  did  not  take  the  people 
by  surprise.  For  ten  years  they  had  seen  the  possibility, 
for  five  years  the  probability,  and  for  at  least  a  year  the 
certainty  of  the  contest.  They  quietly  organized,  watched 
and  waited.  As  the  spring  advanced,  it  was  plain  that 
some  movement  would  be  made.  On  Tuesday,  the  18th, 
Gage,  the  British  commander,  who  had  decided  to  send 
a  force  to  Concord  to  destroy  the  stores,  picketed  the 
roads  from  Boston  into  Middlesex  to  prevent  any  report 
of  the  intended  march  from  spreading  into  the  country. 
But  the  very  air  was  electric.  In  the  tension  of  the  pop- 
ular mind  every  sight  and  sound  was  significant. 

It  was  part  of  Gage's  plan  to  seize  Hancock  and 
Adams,  who  were  at  Lexington ;  and  on  the  evening  of  the 
18th,  the  Committee  of  Safety  at  Cambridge  sent  them 
word  to  beware,  for  suspicious  officers  were  abroad.  In 
the  afternoon  one  of  the  governor's  grooms  strolled  into  a 
stable  where  John  Ballard  was  cleaning  a  horse.  John 
Ballard  was  a  Son  of  Liberty,  and  when  the  groom  idly 
hinted  at  what  might  take  place  next  morning,  John's 
heart  leaped  and  his  hand  shook;  and,  asking  the  groom 
to  finish  cleaning  the  horse,  he  ran  to  a  friend,  who  carried 
the  news  straight  to  Paul  Revere,  who  told  him  he  had 
already  heard  it  from  two  other  persons. 

That  evening,  at  ten  o'clock,  eight  hundred  British 
troops,  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Smith,  took  boat  at  the 
foot  of  the  Common  and  crossed  to  the  Cambridge  shore. 
Gage  thought  his  secret  had  been  kept,  but  Lord  Percy, 
who  had  heard  the  people  say  on  the  Common  that  the 
troops  would  miss  their  aim,  undeceived  him.  Gage  in- 
stantly ordered  that  no  one  should  leave  the  town.  But 


EMOTION  305 

as  the  troops  crosed  the  river,  Ebenezer  Dorr,  with  a 
message  to  Hancock  and  Adams,  was  riding  over  the  Neck 
to  Roxbury,  and  Paul  Revere  was  rowing  over  the  river 
to  Charlestown,  having  agreed  with  his  friend,  Robert 
Newman,  to  show  lanterns  from  the  belfry  of  the  Old 
North  Church — "One  if  by  land,  and  two  if  by  sea"- 
as  a  signal  of  the  march  of  the  British. 

Already  the  moon  was  rising,  and  while  the  troops  were 
stealthily  landing  at  Lechmere  Point,  their  secret  was 
flashing  out  into  the  April  night;  and  Paul  Revere,  spring- 
ing into  the  saddle,  upon  the  Charlestown  shore,  spurred 
away  into  Middlesex.  "How  far  that  little  candle  throws 
its  beams !"  The  modest  spire  yet  stands,  revered  relic 
of  the  old  town  of  Boston,  of  those  brave  men  and  of  their 
deeds.  Startling  the  land  that  night  with  the  warning 
of  danger,  let  it  remind  the  land  foverer  of  the  patriotism 
with  which  that  danger  was  averted,  and  for  our  children, 
as  for  our  fathers,  still  stand  secure,  the  Pharos  of  Ameri- 
can liberty. 

It  was  a  brilliant  night.  The  winter  had  been  unusu- 
ally mild,  and  the  spring  very  forward.  The  hills  were 
already  green.  The  early  grain  waved  in  the  fields,  and 
the  air  was  sweet  with  the  blossoming  orchards.  Already 
the  robins  whistled,  the  bluebirds  sang,  and  the  benedic- 
tion of  peace  rested  upon  the  landscape.  Under  the  cloud- 
less moon  the  soldiers  silently  marched,  and  Paul  Revere 
swiftly  rode,  galloping  through  Medford  and  West  Cam- 
bridge, rousing  every  house  as  he  went  spurring  for  Lex- 
ington and  Hancock  and  Adams,  and  evading  the  British 
patrols  who  had  been  sent  out  to  stop  the  news. 

Stop  the  news !  Already  the  village  churches  were 
beginning  to  ring  the  alarm,  as  the  pulpits  beneath  them 
had  been  ringing  for  mauy  a  year.  In  the  awakening 
houses  lights  flashed  from  window  to  window.  Drums 
beat  faintly  far  away  and  on  every  side.  Signal-guns 
flashed  and  echoed.  The  watch-dogs  barked,  the  cocks 


306    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

crew.  Stop  the  news ! — Stop  the  sunrise !  The  murmur- 
ing night  trembled  with  the  summons  so  earnestly  ex- 
pected, so  dreaded,  so  desired.  And  as  long  ago  the  voice 
rang  out  at  midnight  along  the  Syrian  shore  wailing  that 
great  Pan  was  dead,  but  in  the  same  moment  the  choiring 
angels  whispered — "Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  for 
Christ  is  born !"  so,  if  the  stern  alarm  of  that  April  night 
seemed  to  many  a  wistful  and  loyal  heart  to  portend  the 
passing  glory  of  the  British  dominion  and  the  tragical 
change  of  war,  it  whispered  to  them  with  prophetic  inspi- 
ration— "Good  will  to  men,  America  is  born !" 


SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS 


CHAPTER  XVI 

SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS 

Any  means  of  getting  a  student  to  read  the  printed 
page  intentively  is  sound  pedagogy.  Hence  the 
numerous  problems  presented  in  this  book. 


The  text  frequently  calls  upon  the  student  to  read 
or  study  a  passage,  or  to  decide  a  question.  There 
is  a  very  definite  task  thus  set  before  him  which  the 
teacher  must  insist  shall  be  performed.  All  illustrative 
material  must  be  read  aloud. 


It  is  not  of  so  much  moment  that  the  student's 
interpretation  agree  with  mine  or  with  the  teacher's, 
as  that  he  have  an  interpretation  which  he  can  defend. 


Lessons  should  be  carefully  assigned,  and  the  class 
held  rigidly  responsible  for  the  working  out  of  the 
particular  problem  in  all  illustrations.  Students 
should  be  given  to  understand  that  all  illustrations  are 
to  be  read  aloud  in  preparation  for  class,  even  though 
they  be  not  called  upon  to  read  them  all  aloud. 


Slipshod  interpretation  must  not  be  for  a  moment 
tolerated.  Every  recitation  helps  to  form  habits,  good 
or  bad.  Drill,  constant  drill  on  interesting  material,  is 

309 


310    INTEEPBETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

indispensable  for  the  formation  of  the  habits  necessary 
to  proper  interpretation  and  vocal  expression. 


Assignments  must  not  be  too  long,  especially  in  the 
earlier  parts  of  new  chapters,  but  the  work  must  be 
done  accurately.  Most  students  do  not  regard  reading 
seriously,  as  they  do,  for  instance,  their  mathematics. 
The  reading,  composition,  and  literature  lessons  are 
nearly  always  studied  after  preparation  has  been  made 
in  those  subjects  to  which  students  know  they  can  be 
held  to  strict  accountability.  Let  the  teacher,  there- 
fore, once  it  is  certain  that  the  student  understands  a 
given  principle,  hold  him  as  rigidly  responsible  for 
careful  preparation  as  he  is  held  in  his  other  subjects. 
This  is  the  only  cure  for  slipshod  reading.  We  fre- 
quently hear  the  excuse,  "I  had  so  much  work  to  do  in 
chemistry,  or  shop,  or  civics,  that  I  hadn't  time  to 
prepare  my  reading  or  my  literature."  I  suggest  that 
when  we  once  appreciate  the  value  of  sound  training 
in  reading,  we  may  be  able  to  reverse  the  student's 
excuse;  for  if  there  is  one  lesson  more  than  another 
that  cannot  be  skimped  or  hurried  it  is  the  reading. 


The  results  of  the  method  are  cumulative.  Teachers 
must  not  permit  their  classes  as  they  proceed  from 
chapter  to  chapter  to  forget  any  principle  that  has 
gone  before. 


It  is  not  absolutely  necessary  that  teachers  take  up 
the  chapters  seriatim,  except  in  so  far  as  one  may  be 


SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS  31  \ 

dependent  on  the  other.  For  instance,  one  must  begin 
with  chapter  one,  and  two  naturally  follows :  but  one 
could  with  perfect  propriety  follow  with  Denotation 
or  Punctuation.  A  little  experience  with  the  book  will 
help  the  teacher  to  decide.  Some  work  in  the  chapter 
on  Punctuation  should  be  given  early  in  the  course. 


Although  emotion  is  not  discussed  until  the  close 
of  the  book,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  should  be  ignored 
or  repressed  in  the  earlier  stages.  On  the  contrary, 
it  should  be,  within  reasonable  limits,  encouraged  from 
the  outset. 


Drill  on  the  exercises  under  Group  Motive  will  break 
up  the  almost  universal  habit  of  letting  the  voice  fall 
at  the  end  of  every  phrase;  and,  furthermore,  it  will 
stimulate  the  reader  to  a  vital,  varied  melody,  the  very 
opposite  of  that  deadly  monotony  that  pervades  the 
reading  in  most  of  our  schools.  Therefore,  great 
stress  should  be  laid  on  the  vocal  expression  of  the 
exercises  dealing  with  all  aspects  of  Motive. 


Most  books  on  reading  contain  extended  excerpts 
from  literature  far  beyond  the  grasp  of  the  average 
student  (who  is  not  enthusiastic  over  Milton  or  Keats 
or  Shelley).  I  have,  therefore,  while  selecting  material 
from  the  best  literature,  avoided  what  I  deemed  beyond 
the  experience  of  the  majority  of  students,  believing 
that  to  force  them  to  study  what  does  not  interest  them 
is  sure  to  create  a  distaste  for  it;  and,  relying  on 


312    INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

years  of  experience,  I  believe  further  that  if  they  come 
to  enjoy  what  I  have  chosen  they  will  eventually  come 
to  enjoy  what  now  is  far  beyond  them. 


In  the  great  majority  of  cases  absence  of  context 
will  not  stand  in  the  student's  way  of  using  an  excerpt 
in  connection  with  the  principle  it  is  intended  to  ex- 
emplify. Where  context  is  necessary,  I  have  supplied 
it  or  given  it  in  the  form  of  a  paraphrase. 


The  lack  of  complete  selections  is  explained  by  my 
wish  to  give  a  maximum  of  illustrative  material  for 
class  use,  and  furthermore  by  the  fact  that  the  high- 
school  course  in  English  contains  the  best  possible 
material  for  the  expression  lesson. 


To  use  the  book  in  class  even  once  a  week  will  be 
very  helpful ;  but  the  best  result  will  be  obtained  from 
more  concentrated  study — daily  if  possible.  The  more 
quickly  the  student  understands  and  applies  the  prin- 
ciples herein  set  forth  the  sooner  will  he  come  to  enjoy 
his  work  in  literature  and  the  greater  mil  be  his  prog- 
ress in  other  subjects  in  which  textbooks  play  a  large 
part. 


To  understand  the  principles  of  this  method,  nay, 
to  be  able  to  pass  a  hundred  per  cent  examination  in 
them,  is  not  very  difficult.  Understanding  of  theory 
by  a  great  way  precedes  the  power  to  apply  it.  Hence, 
the  teacher  must  not  be  discouraged  if  a  student  shows 


SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS       313 

a  fairly  firm  grasp  of  the  principles  without  at  once 
manifesting  great  improvement  in  vocal  expression — 
at  least  the  kind  of  expression  that  wins  prizes  and 
displays  itself  at  school  exercises.  The  first  improve- 
ment will  be  seen  in  a  heightened  interest  in  the  lesson ; 
then  in  a  greater  pleasure ;  then  in  a  keener  apprecia- 
tion of  meaning ;  then  in  finer  and  more  delicate  shades 
of  intellectual  values  in  vocal  expression;  and  finally 
(at  least  in  the  majority  of  cases),  the  rich  ripe  fruit 
of  the  harvest  will  appear  in  the  vocal  expression  not 
only  of  all  shades  of  meaning,  but  of  feeling,  emotion, 
passion. 


More  space  is  devoted  to  the  chapters  on  Grouping 
and  Punctuation  than  to  the  others,  because  the 
former  is  the  basis  of  all  interpretation :  The  group 
is  the  unit;  and  the  latter,  experience  shows,  is  the 
most  interesting  aspect  for  students,  and  does  more 
to?  sharpen  their  wits  and  keep  them  on  the  alert 
fcfain  any  other  phase  of  the  subject. 

While  with  enlarged  knowledge  and  increased  ex- 
perience with  books  less  and  less  effort  is  required  to 
read  them,  the  time  will  never  come  when  the  reading 
of  a  good  book  will  be  easy  in  the  sense  that  it  be- 
comes a  mere  automatic  process.  In  time  conscious 
effort  gives  way  to  unconscious  effort,  but  it  is  effort, 
concentrated  effort.  After  considerable  difficulty  one 
learns  to  ride  a  bicycle  and  to  control  it  automatically ; 
but  one  must  keep  pedaling  for  all  the  automatism. 
So  it  is  with  reading.  Automatic  as  the  process  be- 


314    INTEKPEETATION  OF  THE  PRINTED  PAGE 

comes  of  recognizing  words,  let  the  attention  deviate 
for  a  single  instant,  and  the  result  may  be  a  total  col- 
lapse. The  worst  of  it,  however,  is  that  in  many  cases 
the  mental  collapse  is  not  so  evident  as  it  would  be  in 
the  case  of  a  bicycle.  But  a  series  of  mental  mishaps 
cannot  but  eventuate  in  total  ruin,  and  that  phrase,  I 
think,  characterizes  the  state  of  mind  of  most  people 
with  regard  to  the  printed  page. 


It  may  be  objected  that  our  method  is  too  slow ;  that 
if  we  were  to  read  every  page  as  slowly  as  I  am  advo- 
cating in  some  passages,  we  should  never  get  on.  The 
answer  is  (1)  that  while  there  are  in  books  thousands 
of  phrases  that  might  be  slighted  without  any  serious 
loss  to  a  particular  student,  it  is  quite  possible  that 
another  student  might  by  disregarding  a  single  phrase 
lose  what  would  be  for  him  the  gist  of  the  whole  chap- 
ter; (2)  that  patient  analysis  at  the  beginning  is 
the  only  cure  for  the  misreading  that  is  the  outcome 
of  the  wretched  methods  of  the  grammar  grades;  (3) 
that  painstaking  study  eventuates  in  greater  facility 
in  sight  reading;  and  (4)  that  reading  is  not  only  an 
end  in  itself,  but  can  be  made  the  means  to  develop 
the  powers  of  concentration,  observation,  and 
discrimination. 


As  a  supplement  to  Denotation  I  should  like  the 
teacher  to  ponder  carefully  these  words  of  Arlo  Bates, 
in  his  Talks  on  Writing  English: 

One  of  the  things  which  often  puzzles  beginners  is 
how  to  increase  their  vocabulary.  Of  course,  reading 


SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS  315 

is  one  of  the  most  effective  means  of  enlarging  one's 
knowledge  of  the  language, — but  it  is  only  careful  read- 
ing, reading  in  which  are  studied  the  force  and  the  color 
terms  as  well  as  their  literal  meaning,  that  is  of  any 
marked  value  in  this  direction.  It  is  said  that  Thack- 
eray was  in  the  habit  of  studying  the  dictionary  with  a 
frank  purpose  of  adding  to  his  knowledge  of  words. 
....  In  general  there  is  far  too  little  stress  laid  upon 
the  use  of  the  dictionary.  There  should  be  in  every 
preparatory  school  a  regular  exercise  in  the  use  of  the 
dictionary,  and  in  it  all  students  should  be  required  to 
join.  The  teacher  should  read  an  extract  or  a  sentence, 
or  should  give  out  words  to  the  class,  and  have  the 
meanings  and  derivations  actually  looked  up  at  the 
moment.  The  differing  values  of  synonyms  should  be 
examined;  and  if  possible  something  of  the  history  of 
the  words  given.  The  aim  should  be  to  encourage  the 
student  in  the  habit  of  having  a  lexicon  at  hand  and  of 
using  it  constantly. 


It  is  the  failure  on  the  part  of  many  amateur 
and  professional  readers  to  apprehend  the  Connota- 
tion in  literature  that  permits  them  to  present  medi- 
ocre literature  (?)  to  their  audiences.  It  makes  no 
difference  what  audiences  want,  Art's  function  is  to 
supply  what  they  need.  In  the  name  of  a  noble  art 
I  protest  against  bringing  it  into  competition  with 
vaudeville.  Teachers  of  elocution  and  elocutionists 
themselves  have  paid  the  price  of  pleasing  the  "barren 
spectators"  by  losing  altogether  the  sympathy  and 
approval  of  "the  judicious."  There  is  only  one  way 
out  for  those  who  know  what  elocution  really  is — the 
handmaid  of  literature. 

How  strange  it  is  that  the  world  acclaims  the  art 


316    INTEEPKETATION  OF  THE  FEINTED  PAGE 

of  the  musician — the  violinist's,  pianist's — and  denies 
equal  rank  and  esteem  to  the  elocutionist,  whose  art, 
reproductive  just  as  a  musician's  is,  is  fully  as  difficult 
as  that  of  the  musical  virtuoso  and — have  you 
thought  of  it? — infinitely  more  rare!  There  are  a 
dozen  great  musical  performers  to  one  great  elocu- 
tionist. The  highest  gifts  in  elocution  are  far  rarer 
than  in  music;  but  because  the  great  majority  of 
people  do  not  understand  what  good  literature  is,  and 
care  nothing  about  it,  there  is  little  encouragement 
for  the  vocal  interpreter  of  great  literature.  Only  by 
creating,  through  our  schools,  an  appreciation  of  what 
is  best  in  literature  can  we  hope  to  have  artistic  read- 
ers, and,  what  is  most  necessary,  an  audience  to  listen 
to  them.  /Teachers  of  literature  and  of  elocution  may 
be  certain  that  the  student  who  reads  literature  rich 
in  connotation  cannot  fail  to  grow  in  understanding 
of  and  sympathy  toward  a  higher  and  higher  level  of 
artistic  appreciation,  and  this  appreciation  (in  the 
sense  of  understanding  and  experiencing  literature  as 
literature)  is  the  most  potent  factor  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  reader. 

In  order  that  I  may  not  be  misunderstood,  I  would 
add  that  I  do  not  claim  that  all  who  appreciate  great 
literature  are  artistic  readers.  For  one  may  be  self- 
conscious,  or  awkward,  or  weak  in  voice,  or  a  creature 
of  repressive  habit.  Frequently,  too,  one  may  have 
developed  mannerisms  which  (since  the  reader  is  un- 
conscious of  them)  stand  between  his  conception  and 
the  audience.  But,  granting  all  this,  the  fact  still 
remains  that  there  can  be  no  adequate  vocal  interpre- 


SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS       317 

tation  of  great  literature  unless,  through  connotation, 
the  mind,  the  heart,  the  imagination  of  the  speaker,  are 
touched,  aroused,  inflamed  with  a  mighty  passion.  It 
is  primarily  the  reader's  joy  in  the  text  that  inspires 
him :  and  out  of  this  inspiration  alone  can  come  good 
vocal  expression. 

So  far  as  the  average  student  is  concerned  vocal 
interpretation  is  a  secondary  matter.  To  enjoy  litera- 
ture for  its  beauty,  for  the  emotions  it  engenders 
within  us,  for  the  stimulus  it  gives  to  our  imagina- 
tions, for  the  noble  impulses  it  calls  up  in  us — this  is 
the  goal  of  literary  study.  And  when  the  student 
enjoys,  he  longs  to  share  his  delight  with  others,  and 
that  is  the  impulse,  the  fundamental  impulse,  that 
urges  him  to  express  vocally. 


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